The Beginning of Forever and a Day: A Sun Never Sets Sequel
by The Grey Wolf Ghost
Summary: Set after the events of At the Rise of Dawn, Chris Cullen (OC), the youngest member of the Cullen clan returns with the rest of the family, continuing where the Sun Never Sets Series ended. This fic will follow the family through the months, years, and decades after Breaking Dawn. Chapter 8 up, please read and review. Please have checked out The Sun Never Sets series first.
1. Chapter 1

"Chris, I don't know if I'm ready for this," Fi whispered, I looked over at her and gave her a gentle smile, the fear and worry was written all over her face, but I could also see deeper than that, I could see her readiness, her strength, she may not have believed she was ready for this brief exposure, but I knew she was, not only that I have complete faith in her. I placed my hand on the center console of the Mercedes, palm up and she placed her hand on top of it.

"Carlisle and Esme wouldn't let you do anything they did not believe you were truly ready for." I explained "and I wouldn't let you risk failing if I didn't have faith in your strength." I added, squeezing her hand gently, returning my eyes to the road.

It was seven months after the Volturi had attempted to execute us over my niece Reneseme, seven months since Fiona Nickelson had appeared in my life. Even with my ability to profile, I still don't know why she chose me over her Irish family, why she chose to remain with us Cullens instead of returning to the nomadic life.

Don't get me wrong I am thankful every day that she made this decision, it's only been a short time, but I cannot imagine spending any more of my immortal life without her, but at the same time I can't fathom the idea of leaving my family for someone I only just met, connection or not. And yet that is exactly what Fi did, she willingly left her family...for me.

"You have more faith in me than I do." Fi murmured bringing me back to the present, I gave her a half grin, which she weakly returned.

"Hey you did pretty good last week at that farmer's market." I reminded her and she shrugged and pretty good was an understatement, she had been bloody amazing.

The farmer's market had been Carlisle's idea with Esme's pushing. It was a farmer's market/antique show and Esme being Esme was all over that, but we also thought it would be a good trial run for Fi, having been on our diet for so many months and not around humans aside from the occasional visit from Bella's father. Her resolve was impressive and even with the crowds of the market, Jasper who kept a very close eye on Fi had little to do except keep Alice on a leash as she tried to decorate Fi's new room.

Edward had impressed me too as he willingly (though what was he really going to do with it now?) given up his room next to mine to Fi who shyly accepted his offer. The entire trip to the farmer's market Fi held tightly onto my hand and just took in the sights, wordlessly. Even when Alice tried to discuss accessorizing with her, she would nod and duck her head, Fi's shyness made me look outgoing and bubbly.

But she did great with the farmer's market and like my parents firmly believed, we had no doubt she would do great at the movies, hence why it was just her and I, no siblings, no parents babysitting us. Just Fi and I are our first date…together, alone.

The movie was rated R and given the fact that neither one of us look old enough to be driving let alone seeing a rated R film, my fake ID had to look the part thanks to Jasper's talent with forgeries. The teen at the counter did question it, but sold us the tickets anyway, she wasn't paid enough to argue with a license that looks pretty legit. I however regretted my decision in the film…not at first mind you and I will admit it was pretty damn funny, both Fi and I laughed at several parts, and more parts than some of the other patrons, clearly our British/Scottish/Irish humour got the more subtle jabs better than our American counterparts. The amount of gore in the movie was surprising, but Fi handled it…I handled it and we actually enjoyed it.

We didn't head right back to the car, it was an overcast afternoon so no worries about the sun, the crowd wasn't bad either. I think the threat of rain was keeping everyone inside, I glanced at my watch... Then again it could be the fact that it was nearly six in the evening...pretty sure that's dinner time for most humans so maybe that was it, the restaurants were probably filled to capacity which was fine with me. Fi sighed and rested her head against my shoulder as I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm proud of you Risse," I whispered, ever since Emmett started calling her Fi Fi, I made it a point to find a different nickname, Fi's middle name is Larissa, and she told me her sister would sometimes call her Risse, which worked for me. "And I'm sorry about the movie,"

"Why?" Fi asked "it was funny,"

"Funny yes but certainly a bit gorier than I expected,"

"Gory yes, but its okay, I don't know why but I feel fine, not thirsty or anything." Fi assured me and I looked into her eyes for confirmation not that I didn't believe her, her eyes were a near perfect mix of yellow and red, creating an amber like color and even then the red was fading fast. She had taken to her strict diet with ease and her resolve during the movie was proof of that.

"Do you want to keep walking around or head home?" Fi made a face "what?"

"Emmett had a movie marathon going on when we left." I looked at her confused, I had been in the garage changing the oil on some of the cars all afternoon, I hadn't been in the house for hours when we left for the movie. "I'd really rather not see where he is in the film."

"What movie was he watching?" I asked seriously trying to figure out what movie fi was bothered by

"Terminator," Fi replied shuddering "and he was still on the first one,"

"You've seen the Terminator movies?" I asked unable to keep the surprise out of my voice

"No," Fi explained "just the first few minutes of it, then Emmett told me there were a few more and he was planning a marathon if we were interested." She shuddered again "something about it." I grinned "it's not funny!" She protested trying not to laugh

"It's a little funny, I thought you were scared of Emmett or something,"

"Well that's a given," she replied losing any control over her laugher she had.

"I'll admit the Terminator movies aren't my favorite films in the world, but what don't you like?"

"He had the second one sitting on the table, with the glowing red eyes on the cover, it was a wee bit creepy."

"Ah, understandable," I looked at my watch "he's probably gotten bored with them by now, Emmett's attention span when it comes to movies is worse than mine." I assured her and she nodded

"I guess can head home if you'd like, I'm sure Esme and Carlisle are anxious to find out how things went."

"They knew you'd be fine. Like I knew."

Fi was about to respond when I heard my name being called... from across the street. My name isn't exactly uncommon so I didn't even acknowledge the voice even though it sounded familiar.

"Chris Cullen!" The voice shouted, more insistent this time and resorting to my last name "hey man come on wait up!"

Fi looked at me curious and I slowly turned to face the voice. My stomach dropped. It was Patrick. A year older, a year bigger and with someone I'd never met before but definitely Patrick. "Hey man good to see you!"

I winced and gave him a wave

"Hey Pat, how's it going?"

"Man it's going great how about you?"

"Hanging in there,"

Patrick turned to the girl

"Sam this is Chris, we've been going to school together since sixth grade. Chris this is Sam my girlfriend."

I held out my hand and she shook it, I could see her wince at the cold

"Nice to meet you, sorry about the cold hands. We just left the theater they had the AC cranked in there something fierce." I explained "uh this is Fi," I introduced.

Fi seemed a little hesitant at first but shyly shook Patrick and Sam's hands, her only interactions directly with humans had been Billy Black, Jacob's father and Chief Swan, Bella's father. Billy had kind of been a test subject and Fi of course had passed with flying colours, which led to Charlie who in his usual fashion didn't want to know details, but was happy to meet the newest member of the Cullen family. Fi is timid to begin with so I really wasn't too worried about her shaking their hands, but still that was why she was hesitant.

"Wow it must've been cold in there," Patrick exclaimed "we were going to go for a show in a little while, maybe we should go back to the car and get our sweatshirts."

"So…" I started "how have you been?"

"Can't complain, you?"

"Same,"

"Chris, I've got to know," Patrick started to say and I felt my stomach drop again, here it comes, the age question, it's been a year since I last saw my Forks friends and in that year at least one of them had hit adulthood well at least going to be a junior in high school, while I still looked like the same scrawny middle schooler they had met in sixth grade, how the bloody hell was I going to explain this one. "How come you didn't come back?" Patrick asked and it was all I could do to not breathe a sigh of relief.

"Back to Forks?" I asked and he nodded "I ended up going to visit my aunt and uncle over the summer and when I got back my brother and sister-in-law invited me to stay at their new apartment in New Hampshire, they're both going to Dartmouth and it was offering advanced high school placement courses for sophomores and up and my parents thought it was a good idea for me to take full advantage of it." I paused "that's actually where I met Fi here, she was taking the courses too."

"Sweet," Pat exclaimed "that sounds really cool, trust me much better than our wonderful Forks' education. There was a lot of shifting with teachers last summer so things were chaotic at school and not the good kind. Does that mean you're coming back for our junior year?" Patrick asked "or are you going back to Dartmouth?"

I shrugged

"Not sure," I admitted "I'm back for now, but I might be able to apply for early graduation if my credits are approved, which means I can start applying to university."

"That sucks man," Patrick admitted "we missed you this year, without you and Marie it just wasn't the same. I mean I'm happy for you and everything, but still."

"I know, trust me I missed you guys too," Patrick nodded "so how is everyone else?" I asked cautiously, Jenna and Patrick had been a thing last time I saw them so the fact he was with this Sam girl made me wonder what had happened

"Pretty much the same, 'cept Jenna moved."

"Really?" I asked, that explained a lot "when?"

"Last October, her dad got a job in Florida so they moved out there."

"That's good," I replied "I mean, sad, but I'm glad he got a job," Jenna's dad had been laid off during our freshmen year and her family was really struggling to make a go of it.

"Yeah it was pretty sudden. I think they ended up staying with her grandparents. Last time I chatted with her they had just moved into their new house. She seems happy, talking about getting a job next year at Disney maybe, save up for college."

"Good for her, any other big changes?"

"Naw, everything is still the same, hey I heard your brother and Bella got married,"

"Yeah, sorry for the no invite, I think my sister was afraid if any of my friends came I'd disappear during the ceremony and reception. I was a groomsmen so for some reason I was needed." Patrick laughed "so what brings you here? You're pretty far from Forks," I mean granted so was I…but heck I figured Olympia one was a big enough and far enough away that I shouldn't run into anyone I know and two we were an hour and a half from the city itself in a tiny town, what are the odds…'course my luck being what it is.

"College hunting, Sam is going to be a freshman at Evergreen University so I'm checking it out. My parents are really pushing me to start narrowing it down before school starts, they don't want me to wait until my senior year to start. But she was telling me about this theater here in Centralia so I had to check it out."

"Makes sense," I replied, I glanced at my watch "you still have my email right?" Pat nodded "drop me an email anytime, but we've got to get going. It was great to see you," I added and Patrick shook my hand again, fully ignoring the cold

"You too Chris,"

"It was nice to meet you," I said to Sam and she nodded

"Nice to meet you too, and you too Fi,"

Fi gave a timid wave and I felt her slide her hand into mine, as we turned away from Pat heading in the opposite direction of the theater they were heading towards. When we rounded the corner out of sight I breathed a sigh of relief

"Bloody hell," I muttered

"Who was that?" Fi asked

"Patrick, he was a friend from school, before Bella and Edward got married I was pretty close with a group of friends from Forks, when everything happened with Bella getting p…"

"Pregnant?" Fi guessed giving me a sly grin

"Yeah that,"

"You are such a boy," she replied giving me a gentle elbow to the rib

"Right, anyways I lost touch with them on purpose because I didn't know if we would be moving right away if at all." I paused "it's tough to make me look older than fourteen or fifteen, I'm just thankful Pat didn't notice that I haven't changed." Fi gave my hand another squeeze "are you okay?" I asked and she nodded

"I'm great," she replied "I mean I feel fine, even being that close to your friend and his girlfriend I felt fine."

I leaned over and kissed her cheek

"Again there was no doubt in my mind you'd be fine."

"I-" Fi started to reply but stopped, staring over my shoulder at something, slowly my eyes followed hers and I tried to narrow down what she was engrossed in, but it only took me a second to guess, there was a music store across the street and in the window on display were several instruments.

I looked from the window display to Fi and back again

"um, Risse?" I called "Fi what's up?"

"They're beautiful," she breathed

"The instruments?" I asked and she nodded

"Chris, can we…I mean can we just look inside for a moment, please?"

"Sure, why not." I replied, barely were the words out of my mouth before she pulled me to the edge of the sidewalk,

"Come on!" she glanced both ways quickly and dragged me across the street to the store window.

At first she just stared at the display, there were three instruments hanging there, a guitar, cello, and a violin, I couldn't figure out exactly which instrument Fi was staring at, but I nodded to the entrance

"We can go in, look the hours say they're open until 6:30, it's only quarter after." I reminded her and she took a deep breath before nodding.

The bell above the door rang as I pushed the door open and gestured for Fi to go inside, as she did I quickly took stock of the store, it was small, much smaller than any of Edward's piano places, heck I don't think Edward's piano could even fit in this place. The main retail seemed to be string and a few woodwind instruments, no electric guitars, no drums, and no brass.

This didn't seem to phase Fi as she wandered through the store taking in all that it had to offer, until she came to a stop and slowly and timidly reached out to touch a small violin, I could see a change in her body language, a longing, like she was seeing an old friend for the first time in decades.

"Can I help you young lady?" an older voice came from behind me and I admit…I jumped; the musty perfume in the shop, coupled by the cleaning solution the owner must be using to tend to the instruments messed with my sense of smell and I was so focused on Fi, I didn't pay attention to the sound of someone coming up behind me nor my profile telling me such.

Fi jumped a little as well, but recovered quicker than I did, I'm not used to people sneaking up behind me and getting away with it, Fi however was too engrossed in the violin to really care.

"Um," she started to say, her voice shaking a little "yes I was wondering if I could hold this lignatone please?"

Both the owner of the store and I stared at Fi dumbfounded for a second, in my defense I had no idea what a lignatone was, but the storeowner seemed dumbfounded that Fi knew what it was.

"Well, y…yes," she stuttered and carefully removed the violin from its case and gently handed it to Fi. "You know your instruments my dear,"

Fi's face broke into a wide smile as she tucked the violin under her chin and gently stroked the neck of it instrument.

"My grandfather had one, he taught me to play when I was little before he died."

"Can you still play?" the woman asked and Fi winced a little, I'm pretty sure if our bodies were able to, she'd be red from embarrassment.

"I haven't played in a long time," she admitted "I don't want to hurt it,"

"My dear, given the way you are holding that instrument, I doubt you could be anything but gentle." The woman replied handing Fi the bow, Fi looked at me and at the door and I could see she was panicking, regretting coming into the store in the first place, but I gave her a grin and a nod, encouraging her.

Taking a deep breath, Fi tested the strings out with a few gentle strokes, before a soothing tune filled the ironically quiet music shop, I didn't recognize the piece at first, I probably should've given the number of classical pieces that ooze from Edward's piano on a daily basis. It didn't matter though as I just closed my eyes and listened…then it hit me, it was Peter and the Wolf, at least part of it and I chuckled to myself.

Once Fi had completed the quick piece she had chosen she looked at the woman and me and started to take a bow, but stopped herself.

"It's lighter than my grandfather's, but it very similar to his." she admitted, carefully handing the instrument back to the owner. "Thank you for letting me play it."

"Thank you my dear that was a beautiful performance," the woman exclaimed "how long have you been playing?" Fi looked at me like a deer in headlights, she hadn't been asked the 'how long, how old...etc.' question before,

'Just be honest, but keep it vague' I mouthed to her, knowing she would get my meaning, which she did, nodding indiscreetly.

"I started learning when I was four, like I said, my grandfather taught me." she explained "but I haven't played in a while."

"Well dear, I would highly consider getting back into it, you have a talent young lady."

"That's actually why we came in," I spoke up and now it was the woman's turn to jump, apparently she had forgotten I was there. "We heard your store was the best place in the state to find high quality older style violins." I paused, Fi was eyeing me suspiciously "how much is the lignatone?"

"This particular model is $750," the woman explained "normally would go for three times that, but this one has a slight nick in the base, drops the value considerably."

I gave Fi a half grin and she covered her eyes, she was timid about me buying her something like this, but at the same time there was a small hint, a small piece of her that was excited that the violin would soon be hers.

"We'll take it,"

The woman looked me over like she was studying me, trying to determine if I was being funny or was serious, apparently she was going the funny route, though I don't think she was amused in any sense of the word.

"Young man, as I just explained, this violin is a very valuable instrument that is $750, are you able to spend that amount?" she added.

I sighed

"Do you take credit cards?" I asked, not that it mattered, I had a thousand dollars in cash on me, if credit cards were an issue. Rose had asked me to swing into the Beemer dealership in Olympia and pick up a couple of things from their service department, I knew for a fact I could use my card there if need be.

"We do," the owner replied "however I cannot allow a child to use it without permission from a parent."

"Ma'am, it's my own card with my name on it, I have a license to prove that I am the card owner. But if you feel you must contact my parents by all means," I countered, I reached into my wallet and pulled out both cards and handed them to the owner. She studied the license carefully in particular before nodding.

"If you are sure Mr. Cullen, I will run this through, please come with me I will need your signature."

"Absolutely,"

"Chris," Fi whispered so softly the owner definitely didn't hear her, she grabbed the sleeve to my sweatshirt and held on tight "Chris you can't be serious."

"Do you want it?" I asked

"I…"

"Fi, it's a beautiful violin, you obviously enjoyed playing it and I want to get it for you." I paused "but only if you really want it, I don't want to buy you something like this just because, I mean I do, but I also know what it's like to have something bought for you and even though you're grateful you're not happy that they did something you asked them not to." I paused again "if that made any sense."

"It makes perfect sense," she paused "I…I" she nodded and gave up trying to hide her insecurity as she nodded.

I grinned

"You got it," I replied and followed the store owner to the counter. My card went through with no problem and just as the shop was ready to close, Fi and I walked out of the store, Fi cradling the violin case close, like it was a stuffed animal. She hugged it as we walked back to the car and I darted ahead to open the door for her.

"Thank you," Fi whispered as I got into the driver side and we headed for Olympia to get the part of Rose. "really…this is amazing."

"You're very welcome." I grinned "so your grandfather taught you how to play?" I asked

Fi nodded

"He started teaching me when I was four, I was such a wee little thing I couldn't even hold the violin up properly, grandfather had to help me support it." she paused "when he was a boy he dreamed of playing with the London Symphony Orchestra."

"Did he make it?"

Fi shook her head

"He wasn't even allowed to try out."

"Because he was Irish?" I guessed and she nodded

"That was one reason, the other was the Troubles."

"Oh," Was all I could really reply. I knew of the 1916 Irish Rebellion, but I only knew it from history books and documentaries, we of course never learned about such things at school when I was a kid other than condemning the Irish for their supposed insurrection.

As a Scot I felt for the Irish's plight in that sense, my father talked about it sometimes, he was sixteen when it had happened and it was something he was generally unsure about, kind mixed feelings about the whole situation, torn loyalties I suppose, I remember my grandfather hoping Scotland might get the itch to try our hand at reclaiming our home from the English, but my actual understanding was from listening to him discuss it we certainly didn't get it from school and in my American schools I don't think the Irish Rebellion was even thought about until recently I suppose.

"He was twenty-three and some of his friends were members of the IRA, he wasn't. But it didn't matter, before the troubles there was a possibility that he might be able to try out and I know he wanted that more than anything, after it was impossible. He always regretted that and tried to convince my sister or I to follow in his footsteps and go further. My sister had no love for classical music, not to mention she couldn't carry a tune to save her life and I…I fell out of touch with it when he passed away, I was eight. I think I would've eventually gone back to it after I mourned, but my uncle…he stole the violin and other pieces from my grandfather's house while he was in hospital and sold them. At least that's what my older cousin told my sister and I. I don't think we were supposed to know about that."

"That's awful," I replied dumbfounded "on both accounts." I paused, unsure what else to say. "When my father went to University he was kept out of a lot of clubs and events, because he was Scottish, some of his peers wouldn't even let him sit near them during lessons. When we moved to London, I was nine years old, I spoke fluent English and Scottish, even though we mainly spoke Scottish at home, but I was immediately ostracized by my classmates the moment they heard me speak, I was miserable in London to begin with, I missed my mates and cousins in Scotland, the teasing didn't help the situation."

"What happened?"

"I stopped speaking for a while, at least in front of my classmates, I practiced every chance I was alone, trying desperately to lose my accent. My teachers would rap my knuckles when I refused to answer a question aloud, but I bit back my tears and took it, being teased was worse than sore knuckles." I paused "it never completely went away, but by the time I turned ten things had gotten better with my classmates to the point where I was generally accepted and even made some friends. I used to get so embarrassed when my mum would speak to me in Gaelic in front of my mates, even though my closer friends understood and didn't care."

"I don't remember my friends…I know I had some best friends but I don't remember them t'all, I mean, I remember what they looked like, sort of, but I cannae remember their names or anything about them." Fi admitted softly, she seemed almost ashamed of this and I took her hand in my own and gave it a gently squeeze

"I wish I could tell you that it'll come back, but sometimes it doesn't." I sighed "of all my mates, the only ones I really remember was my friend Mikey, but I don't remember much else aside from playing cricket and football with him…" I paused and chuckled a little to myself "and the fact he was the first friend I made in London, when no one else wanted to associate with a Scot, Mike did."

We drove in silence for a few minutes, as I turned off the highway and down the ramp, heading for the BMW dealership to pick up Rose's parts. As I pulled to a stop at the light at the bottom of the ramp, I glanced over at Fi and the violin, she was still holding it tight, memorized by the case.

"Fi," I asked carefully and she looked up at me smiling

"What?"

"Can I ask you for a favour?"

"Of course," she replied, obviously confused "

"Would you teach me how to play?" I asked nodding towards the violin. I was serious, music in my life had always been chorus, my mother played the piano as a child, but never kept up with it and we never had a piano in the house so that was out, my father, well he could sing and play an instrument about as well as Emmett can play cricket. My great uncle on my mum's side, whom I met once in my life when I was four or five, played the bagpipes for the military, or so the story goes, but on my father's side it's a given that all Callaghan's are musically inept. My interest in the choir and the fact that I could sing was an anomaly to anyone with Callaghan blood.

Fi didn't laugh, instead she gave my hand another squeeze and nodded

"Do you really want to learn?" She asked and I nodded

"Edward's been trying to get me to play piano for decades but the piano isn't my thing, but maybe the violin is," now Fi gave me a sly smile "what?" I asked

"Oh we'll see" she replied and playfully punched my shoulder "I can be a pretty demanding teacher."

"We'll Miss Nickelson," I shot back "I'm a pretty disruptive student, didn't you know?"

We both chuckled at that, heading to finish up the errand for my sister before heading back to Forks.

* * *

A/N:

Hi everyone, so yes I'm back! This is a new fic that as you saw picks up about six months after Breaking Dawn, this was just kind of a starter to get everything rolling but this will have many more chapters to follow, I have some special moments already written and I'm hoping to take this pretty far including a few spots in the future with Bella returning to school with the others, including Fi as well as the possibly of much further in the future parts that were suggested to me by a couple of awesome readers! Anyways, be on the lookout for more chapters and as always please leave a review and suggestions are always welcome.

Take care everyone and thanks in advanced!


	2. Chapter 2

x-x-x-x

I put the Mercedes into park in Carlisle's spot in the garage and took a deep breath, Fi looked over at me, still hugging her violin tight, but she looked at me curious

"What was the deep breath for?" she asked

"Just anticipation," I replied nodding towards the house, Fi looked even more confused now, "the teasing can get a bit relentless, especially from Emmett."

Fi smiled

"You were an only child right?" I nodded "I think you're still stuck in that mindset, subconsciously, when you grow up with an older sibling, it's a little easier to accept the teasing, but when you're an only child, you fight accepting it, especially when you're a stubborn Scot." She added playfully

I grinned and gave her a gentle push

"Been studying a bit of Freud have we?" I asked, she laughed and shook her head

"You're not the only one who can profile."

With that note we left the garage and made our way into the house, it was quiet, very quiet and I was a little concerned we had missed something. Before I could shift into worry mode, Esme came into the kitchen to greet us.

"Hello you two, how was the movie?" she asked hugging both of us in turn.

"Gory," I replied cautiously "but funny in its own way."

Esme looked at Fi gently and she smiled shyly at my mother

"It twasn't too bad Mrs. Cullen," she started to say then caught herself "I mean Esme," Fi was definitely as bad as I had been in the beginning, the main difference was either Esme was more firm with being called Esme and not Mrs. Cullen with her or Fi was less stubborn than I was, the latter is definitely more possible and I willingly admit that. "Chris is right it was funny in its own way. Though there were some parts we laughed at but no one else did."

"Were there a lot of people?" Esme asked and I shook my head

"Pretty quiet for a matinee," I explained "restaurants around it were pretty packed, so I think a matinee was definitely our best choice" I added slipping off my coat and helping Fi off with hers, the violin still clutched in her arms. "Especially given who we ran into."

Now Esme looked at me curiously, Fi took both coats from my hand and darted around the corner to hang them up in the hall closest just outside the kitchen before returning, she had figured out very quickly that Esme does not like coats being left around and that I'm notorious in the family for doing just that.

"Ran into?" Esme repeated "who did you run into?"

"Patrick," I replied and Esme's curious look changed to one of surprise

"Patrick, your friend from Forks?" she asked

"The one and the same, he was checking out the local college with his girlfriend and they were in town to see a movie, ironically the same one we had just seen."

"What did he say?" Esme asked as we moved out of the kitchen and into the family room, the TV was off and I wondered for a moment where my siblings were, Emmett's stack of movies could've kept him busy for days, but there was no sign of my brother.

"He was surprised to see me, wondered why I didn't come back to Forks High for our sophomore year and wanted to know if I was coming back for junior year."

"What did you tell him?" Esme asked gently

"I told him I had gone to Scotland last summer and when I got back, my brother and sister-in-law had invited me to spend some time with them in Dartmouth and that the university had opened up a program for high school students and you and dad had insisted I take the opportunity."

Esme nodded

"That does sound very plausible, what about returning this coming school year?"

"I told him probably not, that I was heading back to Dartmouth for another round, saying that I had enough credits to possibly graduate early and attend university, if my credits were approved." I paused "he definitely bought it." Esme nodded again and hugged my shoulders as we sat down on the couch.

"I am sorry Christian," she said "I know how difficult that must have been."

"The lying was easy, unfortunately…but seeing how much he had grown up in just a short amount of time, it was kind of scary, made reality sink in."

Fi listened carefully, but didn't say anything, friendship and moving on like this was still a somewhat faded concept in her memory, but she's very empathetic and I knew that particular memory and the feelings associated with it would return for her.

"And how did you feel at the theater Fi?" Esme asked, changing the subject, which I was grateful.

"Fine Mrs.-…Esme it was a little tricky when we first walked in, but I felt much better as the movie started and the theater went dark." Fi paused "even meeting Chris' friend wasn't too difficult, I felt a little thirsty, but not as bad as I expected."

Esme nodded and hugged Fi tight

"I knew you'd be fine, we had no doubt about that at all." Esme looked down at the violin in Fi's lap "what's this?"

"Chr…Chris bought it for me," Fi stumbled "I hope it's not a bother. It was quite a bit of money."

"Rosalie's BMW parts cost more," I muttered jokingly "not to mention the gas for it."

Fi elbowed me

"Fi, I had no idea you played." Esme continued, pretending neither of us had mentioned money, Esme knows when it comes to money I'm the last one in the family she really needs to be concerned with, when I spend money it's always for very good reason or on a very rare splurge for myself.

"Neither did I," I added with a grin

"I haven't since I was a wee lass. My grandfather taught me. When we were walking back to the car I saw the shop and I just had to go in. This violin, it's so similar to what my grandfather played. I just wanted to hold it, but Chris insisted on buying it."

"May I see it?" Esme asked and Fi nodded, she carefully undid the latches and gently lifted the violin out of its case. "Oh my," Esme breathed "that is beautiful," she looked at Fi with pride "sweetie please play something."

Unlike with the woman who sold us the violin, Fi was more at ease with Esme in that regards so she willingly put the violin under her chin and played a few notes and Esme sat mesmerized, I did as well. I couldn't believe how beautiful the violin sounded nor the fact that Fi seemed so comfortable playing it. I make it a point to complain about Edward's ruddy piano music as much as possible, but this was in a different league from my brother's piano, this was…soothing. When Fi finished she lowered the violin and looked at us shyly. Esme gave her a little clap,

"Thank you," Fi said softly, trying to hide her smile at Esme's applause

"Why don't you store it in your room for now, we'll order a stand for it and we can keep it down here if you'd like or in your room, whatever makes you comfortable Fiona."

"Thank you Mrs. Cullen," Fi replied, carefully returning the violin to the case and running it upstairs.

"That was very sweet of you Christian," Esme said when Fi had disappeared around the corner at the top of the stairs. "You can tell how excited she is, I think that may be the biggest smile I have seen on her face in weeks."

"She was so memorized by the shop, literally pulled to it, then all bets were off when she spotted that violin. I knew we couldn't leave it there, no matter how much it was I knew she needed to have it." I paused "I hope it was okay."

Esme hugged my shoulders tight

"What do you think?" she asked and I shrugged "it was fine, I'm glad you did it." Esme paused, "she did well at the movies?"

"Perfectly, she was nervous at first, especially on the drive there, but once we got into the theater and settled into our seats she calmed down immensely." I paused and looked around "so dumb question, but where is everyone?"

"Bella took Nessie for a drive; Edward and Jasper took a ride to get the paint for Fi's new room," Esme paused and sighed a little "and your sisters, your wonderful sisters are…well they are accessorizing Fi's new room."

I winced

"Which they are doing without Fi?" not that I was surprised, it figured the two of them would wait until Fi and I were out of the house before they started the real damage, less chances of interference.

"They decided that it was best to, well surprise her." Esme took an unnecessary deep breath as if she was trying to choose her words carefully "I informed your sisters that they were free to buy whatever they wanted, however nothing would enter Fi's room without her approval. Hence why Sunday Fi and I will be taking a ride to let her pick out what she would like without the influence of Alice or Rose. I have a feeling decorating and accessorizing her room may be along the same lines decorating your room, lots of books and a quiet place to read."

I grinned and Esme smiled back, I knew I could count on her to take care of the situation. I loved Rose and Alice and I was appreciative that they were taking a personal interest in making sure Fi felt at home with us, however I know how my sisters think, they were thrilled to have a sister physically younger than them who might be easier to persuade into doing sisterly girly, type things than Bella.

Fi was too polite and definitely too shy to really argue with my sisters at this point, but I knew once she became more comfortable with us Fi would be more upfront with her likes and dislikes and Alice and Rose would possibly be in for a big surprise.

"Sunday is a pretty good idea," I replied "tomorrow the sun is supposed to come out in full force."

"I did see that and Alice let me know as well. There is plenty we can do inside, Edward let it slip that Fi wasn't a fan of the golden carpet, apparently that was her first thought when he showed her the room."

"I don't think any of us are," I replied I knew for a fact Esme was not happy with it when Edward insisted for acoustics his room be carpeted and the walls thickly insulated, trust me it did little to prevent his music from torture the rest of us, especially when our rooms are next to each other. Esme was fine with the carpet, even though she is a big fan of the hardwood floors in the house, but the carpet he had initially picked out was this ugly gold colour that Esme couldn't stand, but was willing to let my brother decorate his room as he saw fit.

"Exactly, but she didn't want to say anything, but I'm going to insist we pull it up as tomorrow's project. We'll also test out some of the paint samples your brothers are picking up. On Sunday one of the places we will stop at is a carpet store and she can pick one out if she'd like or stay with the hardwood that is underneath."

I nodded, I liked my carpet and even with the renovations occurring next door I wasn't planning on taking advantage of that and renovating my room, Chap and I like it as it is. I had a feeling that Esme may suggest a change or two in my room as well, freshen it up while we were renovating next door.

"Is Edward okay with all of this?" I asked and Esme smiled "I mean it was his room and remember how he was when Alice took over his room in Moclips."

"That was a little bit different Chris," Esme reminded me

"But still, he's really okay with Fi not only taking his room, but the redecorating?"

Esme sighed at my stubbornness

"Of course he is sweetie, when he gets home you profile him, he is happy for you Chris we all are, we're thrilled to have Fi with us, in our lives, thrilled with the change we've seen in you." I ducked my head a little bit and didn't answer her. Esme reached over and gently lifted my head up by my chin. "We are Christian, you have a light in your eyes that I see anytime Fi is nearby and that is my happiness right there."

I nodded, Esme wouldn't say it if it wasn't true, I must be making myself so easy to read now, whenever Fi was around I felt different, I can't explain it, I can't find the words to describe it, I just feel it. I looked up at Esme, choosing my words carefully.

"Are they upstairs right now?" I asked "Alice and Rose? I mean Fi didn't come running back down here in fear so I'm assuming no."

"No, they took a drive to Port Angeles, something about curtains." Esme replied, trying to hide her amused smile, upstairs a soft tune began drifting down the stairs towards the family room and Esme and I exchanged another smile, Fi had her violin out and was playing. "I think while Fi and I are out on Sunday we will pick up what she needs for her violin. Such beautiful music, I'm glad she found something that makes her happy."

I was about to reply when the front door slammed open and Emmett trudged in carrying an armful of mini paint cans, while Jasper came in a little more subtle, his arms loaded down with brushes, rollers, painters tape, and whatever other tools were needed to paint Fi's new room.

"Hey Fi Fi, get down here! We've got your samples!" Emmett called. Jasper gentle put his supplies down on the floor out of the way and as he tugged off his jacket his ears seemed to perk up a little

"Who is that?" he asked then he paused, he must have felt Fi's joy, her pure happiness emanating from upstairs. He looked over at me "Chris?"

"She found a violin like her grandfather had, so I bought it for her." I explained

"It's beautiful," he replied "she's very good."

Emmett groaned as he caught up with the conversation

"Oh brother, Fi Fi plays an instrument too?" he asked, pretending to be annoyed, but I could tell he was actually impressed and a little envious, Emmett literally has no musical talent other than his choice in music and his distinct ability to finger drum the jeopardy think music perfectly, he actually has pretty decent taste at least compared to Edward so I guess that's saying a lot. "What is that, a cello?" he added, Jasper and I exchanged a look, in a rare instance neither of us could tell if our brother was being serious or joking. But his face broke out into a huge grin and he pushed me gently as he burst out laughing "I'm kidding Dr. Doolittle, man you can be so easy sometimes."

"You had me going for a moment too Emmett, well played." Jasper spoke up, the violin music stopped instantly when Emmett laughed and moments later Fi poked her head around the corner from the stairs.

"Hullo Emmett, Hi Jasper," she called softly waving at them.

"Ah there's my favorite Fi Fi!" Emmett exclaimed "check out the paint samples we brought you! We couldn't find that exact color you were after, but Edward said these are very, very close."

Fi took a timid step off the stairs and after a second of hesitation she joined my brothers and I in the foyer, she looked the paint cans over carefully, she was trying to hide it, but I could see right past her serious examination, she was bursting with excitement over the prospect of painting the room.

Esme came over as well, examining the paint that they had purchased. Esme isn't picky on much, but she has a particular brand of paint she prefers whenever we do renovations on our rooms or even the renovation projects we've done for various towns, something about the quality, price, longevity, and the impact it may have on the environment when the brushes are washed. The latter is especially true when it comes to our volunteer restorations, we don't have to worry about breathing in toxins, but humans entering those buildings do, especially long term and that always concerns Esme. It was one of her biggest pet-peeves and greatest clean up missions when she found out that a lot of the brands of paint we had been using and this is decades ago of course, had lead in them and just how toxic it really was, but I digress.

"These are beautiful" Fi breathed, she knelt down and picked up one of the closer miniature cans, a light blue color called Finley blue. She looked up at Esme shyly "can we try this one first please?" she asked and Esme smiled

"Of course sweetheart, this is your project, I'm just here to help." She reminded Fi "in spite what Alice and Rose may think." She added and we all chuckled at that one, I knew one thing was certain, neither one of my sisters were going to be crazy about any of the paint colors Fi was choosing from. "I do think that one will look very nice, tomorrow is supposed to be the sunniest day of the week, we should take full advantage of that. I'd love to see how this paint and the others look in the natural light so we'll get started tomorrow, I also would like to rip up that carpet at some point tomorrow, should be simple enough. Emmett, Jasper, Chris when the three of you have a moment can you bring in the drop cloths from the garage and the sawhorses?"

Emmett was about to answer when the door to the garage opened and shut, catching our attention.

"Uncle Chris!" a voice echoed from the kitchen and the patter of new sneakers thudded over the tile floor before connecting with the carpet, I braced myself as Nessie dove into my arms. Thankfully her growth spurts that had been so drastic in her first few months of life had slowed down a bit. Even so she was still pushing to just about my elbow, I knew her next growth spurt had potential to put my niece, my not even a year yet niece at my height.

"Hiya Ness," I replied lifting her up as best I could in a hug before gently returning her to the floor. Strong as I am, her height and my height make it awkward to hold her in a comfortable position, "new sneaks?"

"Mom got them for me, we went to a mall and everything, I picked them out myself." Nessie exclaimed "I even got some new outfits."

I looked up at Bella in surprise, she's not one for shopping and leaves that with Alice and Rose and even Esme, given the amount of clothes Alice bought for her and Nessie when we built the cottage, I figured Bella wouldn't need to step into a clothing store for a good few decades. As if she could read my mind on that one Bella gave me a stern look that clearly said 'not a word', so I did the mature thing and kept my mouth shut, she'd have enough to deal with later on.

"I'm glad you had fun Ness," I said, changing the subject "sounds like we've all been running around." I paused and looked at my brothers quickly "um…didn't Edward go with you guys to get the paint samples?" I asked,

"Darn, I knew we forgot something," Emmett started and Esme, Bella, AND Nessie all gave him a look, which had Jasper, Fi, and I laughing loudly

"Emmett where is Edward?" Bella demanded, I could see Emmett was just kidding around and though she was serious and concerned, Bella knew it too,

"Don't worry we didn't leave him anywhere to be cruel." Jasper assured our sister, mother and niece "he said he needed to pick up a few things and told us to come home without him, he'd run home after his errands." Jasper paused and smiled gently at Fi "we all knew how excited Fi was to check out the paint samples, we were hoping to beat you both home from your movie, apparently we misjudged that one."

"What errand?" Bella asked as Nessie asked:

"What did you pick Fi? Can I help paint, can we paint Uncle Chris' room next?"

"Hey!" I exclaimed "my room is perfectly fine,"

"He wouldn't say," Jasper replied, ignoring Fi, Nessie, and I "just something about running a couple extra errands."

"And I said I'd be right behind you," Edward's voice joined the conversation as he came through the front door, Nessie bolted over to him and jumped into his arms "hi there,"

"What errands?" Bella asked Edward suspiciously and he shrugged, giving her a mischievous smile, before leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"nothing anyone has to be concerned about," Edward replied, he looked at Esme and she smiled, understanding his meaning, I know I wasn't the only one who felt out of the loop, but unlike everyone else in that room I could profile my brother, him and Esme had concocted something for Fi, I could tell the way both of them glanced at her carefully.

Must be some addition to her room, maybe a bigger bookcase, Edward enjoyed reading occasionally, but he was nowhere near as big a bookworm as Fi and I were so bookcases were in our opinion severally lacking in my brother's former room, so that might have been it or perhaps some other piece of furniture to make Fi feel as at home and comfortable as possible. Whatever it was I was grateful for what they were doing and promised myself I wouldn't pry.

"Can I help paint your room Fi?" Nessie asked sliding out of Edward's arms and walking up to Fi

"Of course!" Fi replied, hugging Nessie's shoulders

"So where are Alice and Rosalie?" Bella asked "I thought they'd be back before us,"

I snorted back a laugh and Bella gave me a look, I shrugged

"Think about what you just said Bella," I answered and she sighed, nodding.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon," Esme replied "for now why don't we bring the supplies up to Fiona's room that way its all out of my foyer," she added with a smile.

Emmett reached down and picked up an armful of the mini paint cans, while Jasper, Fi, and Bella loaded up their arms with the brushes, rollers, and other assorted painting supplies. Not wanting her to be left out, Fi handed Nessie one of the brushes to carry and the five of them, Esme in the lead headed upstairs. Edward started to follow, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to a stop.

"I thought you weren't going to pry?" he asked and I rolled my eyes,

"You're one to talk," I replied, tapping my head. I paused "but no I'm not going to, I just wanted to say, whatever it is, thanks."

"It must be killing you to not ask." Edward answered, a hint of sympathy in his voice

"I'm a profiler, we're naturally inquisitive."

"You mean naturally nosey."

"Look who's talking Professor X." I shot back, my brother shrugged, he usually doesn't have comeback when I call him Professor X, in fact I'm pretty sure (and god knows he'll never admit to it) I think he likes the nickname, I mean if you're going to resemble a mutant, I guess there are worse abilities you could have.

Edward gave me a look as he read that in my mind and we both chuckled, following our family upstairs.

"So how was the movie, Fi did okay I take it?" he asked, trying to get the answer the normal way and not the intrusive way.

"She did fine," I replied "better than fine," I paused at the first landing and looked at my brother as serious as I could "it'll be up to Esme and Carlisle of course and I know it won't be for a while given our status here in Forks, but I think when the times comes, Fi will be golden for school." I took a deep breath "definitely better than me." I added.

"Hey you did fine," Edward started "there was no concern that you wouldn't be fine. Other than nearly getting shoved into a locker of course."

I shook my head sighing, I will never forget that experience even if I live to be two hundred…two weeks into my first time back in a school setting after joining the Cullen family and I had an older, much bigger kid attempting to bully me for lunch money. Emmett, Rose, and Edward made sure to keep me in their sight at all times because I was smaller than our peers and liable to be stepped on purely by accident, but on one particular day the teacher pulled Emmett aside to ask him a question regarding a test and I was swept into the herds of high schoolers changing classes.

The school bully (and don't forget this is the 50s so we're talking stereotypical here) cornered me down the hall with some of his cronies and demanded I pay up or be beaten to a pulp. When I tried to push my way past them I was shoved into a locker. Thankfully I was in pretty strong control over my reflexes and my instinct, which not only prevented me from being completely shoved into said locker, but also gave me the momentum to push back against the locker itself and knocked him flat on his back with my feet, causing a massive pile up of students, books, and carts in the hallway.

Emmett had gotten away from the teacher just in time to see the pile up and he quickly snatched me out of the locker and carried me down the hallway to the cafeteria to meet up with Rose and Edward. Emmett refused to leave my side the rest of the school year, feeling guilty that he hadn't protected me and Edward kept a listen for any repercussions of the 'weak looking British kid knocking down the much larger, much stronger looking sophomore' incident. None came of course and with my siblings constantly around me, Emmett especially the kid never got a chance at revenge. And when he finally tried the summer after that school year, he made a really big mistake because he caught me in a very bad mood with a very short fuse and made the mistake of talking about Rosalie, which meant I had to defend my sister and retaliate. I didn't hurt him, though I really wanted to, I fought that particular instinct and instead gave him a few choice threats regarding his extremities if he ever talked about my sister like that again or if he came near her at all. Not one of my finest moments, but sometimes one has no choice.

Edward chuckled a little at that memory, he had been needless to say, shocked when I had returned home and he had read my mind. At that point Jasper and Alice had just joined the family and things between Jasper and Edward were pretty tense.

"I'm talking about the fitting in part," I said, returning to the conversation and Edward nodded, understanding my meaning. "She's shy, but she's extremely adaptable and I really think she'll ease into school with this generation much easier than I ever do."

"You were also coming from a war Chris and it was a shorter time between schooling for you. You had strong memories of what school was like as a human and that made your transition difficult because your mind knew things were different and it wasn't ready to accept that. Fi doesn't have that luxury, she doesn't remember anything of the day to day school life as a human. She remembers some of the more common things that all schools share, but that's it. That is why she may be more adaptable in that situation than you were." Edward rubbed his chin thoughtfully "it will definitely be interesting when the time comes what roles we each take."

"I beg your pardon?" I asked, we were outside of Fi's room now, Esme was directing everyone where to store the supplies and what could be moved temporarily. Fi was officially moved into Edward's room, with the few belongings she did have which is to say not much and mainly what Esme and the girls had gone out to purchase for her shortly after the Irish Coven had left.

"Well, you and Fi are very similar, you two could pass easily as twins, first time around you might even get away with freshmen." I rolled my eyes at my brother, but he had a point. Fi was physically older than me by nearly two years, but she was small, not quite Alice small, but like me could easily pass as a middle schooler through a freshmen or sophomore in high school. Before I could reply, Nessie stuck her head out through the doorway,

"Uncle Chris?" she asked sweetly, "can I let Chaplin out?" she loves my rat and the feeling is definitely mutual and Chaplin is certainly more at ease with my brothers now than he was before we lost his brother Charlie, he's even comfortable with Emmett's loud deafening laugh.

"Sure, you know how to open his cage," I answered and she skipped over to my door and went into my room. I could hear Chaplin squeaking with excitement and that same excitement wash over me. "So you're really okay with this?" I asked Edward nodding towards his old room.

"As I'm sure Esme already told you, which I know she did actually. I'm better than fine with it Chris, I was happy to do it. Just no guarantees that when we move I'll be quite so generous, you two may end up having to share a room." He added with a smirk. My brother paused and slung an arm around my shoulder, his tone turning serious. "Took us a while huh kid?"

I looked at my brother carefully then followed his gaze into the room. Nessie skipped past us, Chaplin riding contently in the hood of her new sweatshirt, she went over to where Bella and Fi were lining up the paint cans in a particular order, I'm assuming the order Fi wanted to try them. I nodded, understanding my brother's meaning without him having to go into much detail.

"Yes it did," I replied, sighing "but in the end, I think it was worth the wait."

"Absolutely." Edward agreed nodding. "Come on, let's go get the sawhorses and drop cloths for Esme."

I grinned at my brother

"Race you!" I exclaimed shooting off towards my room and the open window, Edward right on my heels.

x-x-x-x-x


	3. Chapter 3

x-x-x-x-x

 _Thump, thump, thump_ the deer's heart raced in my head, growing louder and louder as it picked up speed, till it was nearly a hum, like a bird's wings. I was getting closer to it and the deer knew it's time was growing short. It was confused, I could feel it, confused and defiant, it couldn't understand what was hunting it…knew it was no ordinary predator.

Across the forest I saw a flash of blue and grinned as Fi stalked her own prey and further in the distance I spotted my parents hunting as well. It was the first time just the four of us went hunting, my siblings had decided not to come along and Bella and Edward had taken Nessie for a quick drive to Alaska to visit our cousins and I'm not entirely sure what the others were up to.

The deer I was hunting darted across the path in front of me, a bold move that I easily countered, it was panicking now, fear was taking over replacing the confusion and defiance. I leapt over a log and tackled the deer down hard into a small pile of leaves. The deer continued to fight, kicking and twisting it's body unnaturally as I pushed it down harder, snapping it's neck cleanly, its body slumping under. I sighed and drank my fill, before standing up slowly and wiping my mouth on my sleeve, something I knew Esme would give me hell for later on. I watched and waited for Fi, her confidence when hunting had spikes tremendously. Before she was so timid. Taking any life is a difficult task even more so when you value all life, even animals. I can only imagine the difficulty she must've had taking a human life. But none of that mattered now, Fi had accepted our way of life with ease and it was like she had always been part of the family, in so many ways.

She joined me on a fallen tree while we waited for my parents to finish their own hunt. as we waited, Fi leaned her head against my shoulder.

"How do you handle it?" She asked, genuinely curious "it must drive you crazy all the animal emotions when you're hunting them."

I shrugged

"I've gotten good at blocking them out. Or just focusing on the hunt itself and not the emotions. I'm much better at it now than I was decades ago."

Fi gave me a knowing grin

"Practice?" She asked half joking

"Jasper," I replied and she sat up straight to look me in the face, to see if I was serious or not

"scout's honour," I promised "Jasper and I didn't exactly hit it off very well when he and Alice first joined the family. I could see the wars in his eyes and his mannerism and I was concerned for the safety of the family with him around and he trusted me as much as a gazelle trusts a lioness."

Why?"

"Jasper's experience in battle had taught him to be wary of those who appear weaker and incapable of a fight. His only dealings with vampires physically younger than himself had been decoys, used to trick vampires or even humans into letting their guard down. In his mind and experience that was the sole reason a child or even a young teen would be changed into a vampire intentionally. He assumed that because of our size we'd never be changed accidentally, it was either an intentional act for military reasons or we'd be killed in the process." I paused and picked a crumbling piece of bark from the trunk "he couldn't fathom for the life of him that someone would intentionally change someone out of love or even a value for life."

"But you and Jasper seem so close," Fi pointed out "he really didn't like you?"

"Definitely not in the beginning. Didn't trust me, not with himself and certainly not around Alice." I grinned "once he realizes I wasn't Carlisle's decoy and going to harm Alice, he slowly began to trust me a little more. He definitely wasn't comfortable with my profiling ability. But once he learned of my gift with animals and their emotions he saw our similarities and slowly began to accept me, of course it was mainly because of Alice he did. Believe it or not but Alice couldn't read when they came to us, we think that whatever was done to her before she was turned made her lose her not only her memory of her family and past itself, but memory of anything she had learned."

"That's so sad," Fi said softly "poor Alice,"

"Esme and I helped her with her studies and Jasper definitely appreciated our effort." I paused "but that's how Jasper began to trust me, slowly and when he realized our abilities are so similar and that was struggling to handle them he repaid what I had done for Alice by helping me."

Fi laid her head back on my shoulder and we sat there in silence for a few minutes, with only the sound of the forest echoing around us. I'm not sure where Carlisle and Esme had disappeared to, maybe over the hill into the clearing, that's probably where the deer headed off.

"Tha gaol agam ort," she whispered and I looked at her stunned for a moment and she looked back at me, guilty like she had said something she shouldn't. "Sorry," she said softly "too soon,"

I shook my head and lifted up her chin gently, before kissing her timidly on the lips. I pulled back and she hugged me tight.

"Not too soon, never too soon," I replied, "I love you too. I just wasn't sure if we…"

"Were at that point?" Fi asked with a smile and I nodded

"Aye,"

"Are we?" she asked and I kissed her again

"Definitely."

x-x-x-x-x

A few days later, I quietly snuck down the stairs and reached the landing. The only ones home were Nessie and Carlisle. Fi and Esme were off shopping for school materials so Esme could begin her tutoring. Fi was hoping that she'd be joining us at school next year and at the rate she was going, none of us saw a problem with that happening. But Esme wanted to catch her up on 21st century American education. Everyone else was hunting. Carlisle was in his office and I had no idea where Nessie was, with luck she was with Carlisle and wouldn't notice me leaving the house.

"Hi Uncle Chris!" her voice called from the family room.

"Busted," I muttered under my breath "Hi Ness, what's up?" I replied walking over to the couch. My niece looked up to me, a wide smile on her face.

"I'm bored, when is everyone getting back?" sighing I vaulted over the couch and sat down next to her

"Don't know kid," she scooted over and leaned closer to me "they shouldn't be to long." I paused and put an arm around her shoulder "you could've gone with them. Either hunting or shopping." She nodded "and you didn't why?" now she shrugged

"'cause. Uncle Emmett always takes over the TV, and I finally got it!" She nodded to the TV a Disney movie normally shown around Halloween, 'Mom's got a date with a vampire'

My eyes went wide and I muttered 'uh oh' under my breath. I rubbed my temple, if ANYONE in the family found out that Nessie was watching something like this and two I had LET her watch said movie, we both were in trouble, me more than her, just by default.

I'm still trying to figure out if I had anything to do with this…I've made it a point not to watch any of my horror movies when Nessie is in the house, but then again she's a smart kid and very observant, she's seen my room and she's seen my movie collection which is mostly horror movies, not to mention…she's the most inquisitive kid I have ever met.

I leaned over and kissed the top of her head

"I think I've been a bad influence on you," I replied,

"That's what daddy said."

I rolled my eyes,

"Nessie, give me the remote,"

"Aw, but-"

"Now Nessie before Rosalie gets home."

Grumbling a bit, which really didn't suit her, she handed me the remote and quickly I changed the channel, putting on another Disney movie only this time a cartoon as far from vampires as one could possibly get.

A few seconds passed, before she looked at me shyly

"So where were you going Uncle Chris?"

"What makes you think I was going somewhere?" she reached up and went to put her hand on my forehead. "Ness," I warned

"Sorry Uncle Chris" she looked down at her hands guiltily and I groaned,

"its ok kid," I kissed her forehead again "can you keep a secret?" I asked, lowering my voice to sound mysterious, instantly Nessie's face lit up, she loves mysteries and it's something I have learned to use, its great fun sending her on a detective hunt and it can keep her busy for HOURS. "I'm going down to La Push for a bit,"

Her eyes lit up

"Why?"

"Gotta talk to Seth 'bout something."

"Oh," she turned the TV off "can I-"

"Sorry Ness, not this time."

"That's not a secret Uncle Chris, a secret's like you and Fi taking Auntie Alice's Porsche to Los Angeles."

My eyes went wide, no one was supposed to know 'bout that except Edward and the blackmail from him is unbelievable.

"Renesmee," I warned…

"Don't worry, I didn't tell her."

I sighed

"Actually, I'm surprised she didn't see it 'fore I took it." I stood up and vaulted back over the couch.

"Come on Uncle Chris why is it a secret that you are going to La Push?"

I sighed, she was going to figure it sooner or later, that's just who Nessie is.

"Tell you what, you promise not to tell anyone that I went down to La Push and when I get home I'll tell you exactly why I went down."

She grinned wide, an evil kind of grin that I'm sure she picked up from Emmett and my family said I was a bad influence on her, I think someone else is more at fault here.

"It's about Fi isn't it?"

See…I said she was good at this. I leaned over and kissed her head again, whether she has more of her father's ability than we really think or its just her being naturally inquisitive.

"Maybe," I paused "I'll be back later, be good ok? And no more vampire movies ok? You know Auntie Rosalie doesn't like that, you don't want Uncle Chris to get yelled at do you?" her eyes went wide as she shook her head

"No!" she exclaimed.

It didn't take me long to get to the border, but I hesitated. The treaty had been changed to accommodate what had occurred a year or so ago, we still couldn't hunt on the Quileute's land, but because of Jacob and Nessie we were no longer enemies with the Quileute'. But I wasn't sure how happy the elders would be at my coming onto their lands even if no malice was intended.

As luck would have it, I saw the flash of movement in the trees, running towards the path was Brady, one of the youngest of the wolf pack. Like Seth, Brady was friendly to me, he more cautious than Seth of course, but like Seth, when he found out I was into nearly the same kind of things they were, the fact that technically I was over seventy didn't seem to bother either of them because they saw me as a guy their age…who just happened to drink blood. It was kind of weird ongoing friendship. I think all the younger wolves…the ones who are closer to my physical age seem generally curious about me.

It's actually because of Seth I have these new friends. After the Volturi incident, Seth continued to hang around at our house, he eventually ventured in to watch movies and play video games…and once word got back to the reservation that Seth Clearwater was friends with one of the leeches as was so nicely put with the "sweetest gaming systems and mega TV", his friends on the res began to show up as well.

Of course, they refuse to be alone at the Cullen home and actually they won't come at all if ALL of my brothers are all home, I'm lucky if I can get them on our property if even ONE of my brothers is around, especially Emmett, he really terrifies them, but it's a start.

I whistled, trying to catch Brady's attention, which it did. He stopped running and looked around nervously as his sensitive nose took in my apparently disgusting smell.

"Brady over here," I called, he finally saw me and jogged over.

"Hey Chris,"

"Hey,"

Brady looked at me and looked down

"You know you could come over the line to get my attention,"

"And have you freak out and run? You'd panic the tribe, it be like a scene out of Frankenstein, the villagers storming with pitchforks and stakes and yours truly running for his life."

He snorted and nodded

"Good point, I did get kind of nervous when I caught your scent."

To make my own point I gave my shirt a whiff and shrugged at not smelling anything. This had become a running joke 'tween me and the younger wolves…it had actually started with Alice and Jacob and well just kind of got picked up by us, the joke was how bad we smelled to the other. We refuse to let it go.

"Come on Brady… you wanna talk extra rancid, you guys when you get wet, it's worse than the normal wet dog smell, for one thing it's intensified and two it's like something died and is decaying on your fur."

Brady gave me a push and grinned

"Your one to talk about decaying, aren't you guys technically the walking dead?" he exclaimed

"No. Vampires are the undead you idiot, the walking dead and living dead are zombies." I shot back "get your monster movies right!"

"Undead, walking dead same thing, dead is dead, none of you have a pulse."

I rolled my eyes, he had a point there, but there was no way I was going to lose to him.

"Aren't you late for an appointment with the groomers Fido?" I replied

"Aren't you late for an appointment with the undertaker Dracula? Or is it a tanning salon?" he shot back.

"Ooo, good one." I paused "hang on, I think I have a milk-bone in my pocket for being such a smart ass puppy."

Brady grinned wide

"Chris I've been meaning to invite you to dinner."

I raised an eyebrow suspiciously

"So?"

"We're having STAKE and GARLIC! And hot CROSS buns! And don't forget gallons of SUNNY D."

"Brady, any originality you had…any props I gave you for greatness with comebacks… has completely vanished with that really bad collection of metaphors, you failed my friend… utterly and disgustingly failed. I am ashamed to know you. No milk bone for you!"

"so what's up?" Brady replied, changing the subject, a sure sign he was giving up. He looked around again "you haven't been standing here for hours have you?"

"Ten minutes, tops," I replied "I was just hoping I'd get lucky and one of you guys would run by. Where are you going anyways?"

"The cliffs, we're cliff jumping." My eyes went wide, I had heard of the cliff diving… considering what caused Edward to go to Italy to face the Volturi a few years go…Bella taking a nice dive off a cliff.

I kind of wanted to give it a try, but prior to the treaty being changed, there was no way I could…today I might actually have a shot.

"Is Seth going?"

"Later on, I'm going to go get some practice in,"

"I don't suppose you could go get him."

Brady rolled his eyes

"I thought you Leeches were fearless?"

"Fearless?" I repeated "sure…but we also keep our promises. I mean if you don't want to go get Seth I'll just wait here and bug everyone who runs by, if we're fearless we're also extremely patient."

Now Brady stared at me

"You really won't come onto our lands?"

"It was a part of the treaty, no Cullen will step one foot onto Quileute land."

"Even if I told you, you could."

"Even then, it has to come from a descendant of the original one's who made up the treaty, preferably Jacob, Seth, or Sam."

Brady nodded

"Ok, I'll go get Seth,"

I watched as Brady turned into his wolf form and shot off into the forest. I sighed and leaned against a tree.

I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing…I had felt bad at first when I began contemplating this…and then again…there was still the chance that I was doing all this for nothing, Risse might say no to my proposal.

I mean we haven't known each other long, less than a year. But I've felt like I've known her forever and that had to count for something. The 'I love you' she had whispered to me the other day…after we finished hunting that was what sealed it for me. I could profile it, see our future together, sure a few months wasn't very long and us being young in some sense might be messing with my limited experience, but I didn't care.

What was really sinking deep in my subconscious was why was I choosing Seth over my brothers to be my best man?

Simple…I couldn't choose. I couldn't choose which of my three brothers would be the best one to accompany me at the alter as I exchanged vows with Risse.

Emmett and Rosalie have gotten married so many times that he just alternates between us to be his best man, last time it was my turn. Jasper and Alice had chosen not to have a traditional wedding in that regards, the only thing that Alice had insisted was that Carlisle give her away.

But for me…it seemed important to have a traditional wedding, one perfect and traditional wedding and I know Fi would agree.

Maybe it is because of our upbringings…true Fi and the rest of the Irish lived nomadic, but Fi was turned in the 1960s and had distinct memories of her human family and I know for a fact that she experienced her cousin's wedding as a flower girl. And I have never known the nomadic life, I've always been with the Cullen family so I have experienced human traditions first hand. Maybe that is why I want as much of my life to be traditional as possible, including my wedding…

I wondered for a moment, would Fi's "sister" Maggie be all that comfortable with walking down the aisle with Seth? I know she would be Fi maid of honor, it was only right What about dancing with him? I shook my head…let Alice, Rosalie, Esme, and Bella deal with that.

My biggest concern was asking Fi for her hand. I should ask Carlisle for his advice… I mean I would have to anyways, before I talked to Fi I had to talk to my parents. But sometimes a guy has to talk to his best friend…and that's exactly what Seth is, he's my best friend.

I heard movement deep in the woods and turned just as Seth came to a stop. He looked at me expectantly.

"Hey Seth,"

"So pray tell Chris why did you drag me out of bed?"

I returned to grin, I could profile it all over my friend, he had literally just dragged himself out of bed.

"Sleep? Sleep is for the weak" I replied crossing my arms defiantly

"Sorry, us humans have to sleep."

"What humans?" I replied looking around seriously and Seth grinned

"So what's up?" he paused "you know I'm sure Brady told you this you could have come to my house to get me."

"Didn't know where your house is" I shot back "and do you really think people would want to tell me?"

"Good point," Seth replied, he nodded over his shoulder "come on, I gotta grab a few things from my house. Brady said you wanted to talk to me and I thought it was an emergency."

Timidly I put my foot over the invisible line, it has been drilled into my mind since I joined the family that we were not allowed on the Quileute land, since Carlisle caught me going onto their territory when I had been a vampire for about two years. I had no idea about the treaty and he had forgotten to warn me about it. I had just wanted to see the ocean, I could hear it and had seen a map of First Beach, luckily Carlisle caught me before I did and explained the treaty to me.

Seth saw me hesitating and rolled his eyes, he reached out and gave me a shove pushing me over the line.

"Thanks…" I muttered

"Anytime." He paused "so what's up?"

"I'm going to ask Fi to marry me."

Now Seth stopped short and stared at me in shock

"Marry you? But…how is that even legal? You're only fourteen!"

"Seth…physically I am, but remember I'm way older than you, I'm way older than all of you guys. Heck, I'm old enough to be your grandfather."

Seth's ears turned red

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"It's cool,"

"Anyways, you haven't asked her yet have you?"

"Not yet, I have to talk to my parents first, actually I want to ask them for their advice on the subject."

"So where do I factor in?"

We had reached the main road now I could see houses in the distance and people going about their business. No one seemed to notice me…to which I was thankful, even knowing the treaty had been altered I wasn't sure what sort of panic might ensue with the presence of a vampire on Quileute territory.

"I have a favor to ask you, but only if you're up to it."

"Yeah?"

"Would you do me the honor of being my best man?"

Seth stopped short and stared at me wide eyed

"me?" he squeaked…making a rather amusing sound, which I couldn't help but laugh at. "Me!?" he repeated

I nodded

"I mean if you don't want to it's ok…"

"Chris it's not that I don't want to, its…I don't understand why you want me. Wouldn't you want your brothers to do this?"

I shook my head

"That's asking me to pick which one of my brothers is the best…who is best to stand next to me as I enter into a new phase of my life with my wife." I shook my head, man that word was going to take some getting used to.

"So why me?"

I sighed

"Not to get sappy or anything, but Seth, I haven't had a real friend since I was human, at least a close friend who I trusted. My best pal's name was Mike we made an unbeatable cricket team our teachers called us the Troublesome Duo. And you're the first real friend I've had since him, a lot of people don't want to hang around with me…humans at least. It's like their instincts are telling them that I'm dangerous and to stay away. I have acquaintances at school and some pretty good friends, but never someone on the same level Mike was, till you wolves. The best man is supposed to be a guys confidant, his wing man. Sometimes it's his brother, but like I said I cant choose which of my brothers is and instead in this case a guy has to pick his best friend."

Seth's eyes lit up with surprise

"You really think of me as your best friend?"

"Duh," I replied "I haven't had someone my age…technically at least that I had so much in common with since 1940." I paused and looked at Seth sternly "hey Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm a vampire and I drink blood."

He raised an eyebrow, and I could see his mind trying to figure out what I was doing and I could see that he was wondering if he should be worried.

"Yeah…sooo?" he answered slowly and I grinned

"I have never been able to say that to someone who isn't a vampire and damn did it feel good."

"What about Fi?"

"Fi's my soul mate…if I even have a soul, she…well she completes my being; without her I'm just the last of the Cullens to be without his other half not much of a title. With her I can talk about vampire stuff and we can go through our permanent teen years together, with you I can talk ABOUT Fi and non-vampire stuff…and vampire stuff too 'cause unlike my friends at school, you know me and you know what's going on."

Seth sighed and ran his hand through his hair

"Chris." He said softly "Chris I'd be proud to be your Best Man." He paused "if you jump off the cliffs with us."

"What like an initiation?"

"Yeah," he replied "an honorary member of the wolf pack."

My eyes went wide as we neared what I assumed was Seth's house.

"And the rest of the pack is…ok with this?" Ok being the opportune word.

"I suggested it and a few of the others agreed. I was actually coming to your house in a little while to invite you."

"Let me guess, Brady, Collin, you, and Jacob." He nodded, "fine, I'll jump off the cliffs with you guys."

Seth grinned and pulled open the backdoor and ushered me in

"It's not much, not even close to your place, but it's home."

"Don't worry 'bout it, I didn't come here to compare."

"So, as your best man what do I have to do?" I shrugged my response "you're asking me to do this and you don't even know what I have to do?"

"Do I look like I've been married before?"

"No but haven't your brother and sister gotten married like 150 times?"

I grinned

"Talking about Rose and Emmett?" he nodded "I think eight…maybe more, it's an every couple of years event and it's only gotten worse since Alice." He looked at me questioningly "Alice likes to…well" I sighed "you saw Bella and Edward's wedding. Alice did all of that…and then some. The girl loves to do that stuff and Rosalie love to be showy." I paused and groaned

"What?"

"I'm just picturing the insanity that is going to ensue from this wedding, I am only doing this once so it's a given that the girls are going to want to go overboard. Argh I haven't even ASKED Fi yet…bloody hell what am I getting myself into. What if she says no…what if I'm completely misreading the situation and she says no-"

"Seth, I thought you were going to the cli-" Mrs. Clearwater walked into the kitchen and stopped short at seeing me, her face went pale and her eyes narrowed. "Seth, care to explain?" Seth, as calm as could be simply looked around

"Explain what?" he paused "oh, mom you remember Chris from Bella's wedding? Edward's brother?"

"Pleasure to see you Ma'am" I answered politely, she seemed taken aback by that, but still was not happy about my presence in her house.

"Seth may I speak to you. NOW."

"Mom can we talk later? We're heading to the cliffs I had to grab a few things."

"Seth NOW." She grabbed his shoulder and navigated him to the other room. Seth looked back at me and rolled his eyes at his mother and I shrugged. Mrs. Clearwater either forgot that like her son my hearing is superior to any human or she wanted me to hear the conversation as she laid into her son. "Why is HE in our house?"

"Chris?" Seth questioned, "I visit his house all the time I figured it was high time I invited him here. Seemed kind of rude to keep mooching off of the Cullens. I believe the phrase is Me Casa Es Su Casa."

I held my breath to keep from laughing at that one, I knew that Mrs. Clearwater was not happy that I was in her house, but seriously Seth was being smart about this, smart if just a tad crazy.

"It's one thing to be friends with them Seth, it's another to invite them home for dinner." I saw Seth's mouth twitch into a grin and could only groan as he said what I wished I could've, but wouldn't dare.

"Chris had a bite before he came over."

"Not helping Seth," I muttered, he looked at me and shrugged

"The treaty was changed to accommodate Jacob and that child, NOT so you could bring a vampire onto our lands and into OUR house for a play-date."

"Change your tactic," I whispered, barely moving my lips so Mrs. Clearwater wouldn't notice.

"How nervous do you get when I go to the Cullens?"

"Excuse me?"

"How nervous do you get when I go to the Cullens? When all the Cullens are there, including Chris's brothers?" Seth repeated.

Mrs. Clearwater raised an eyebrow as did I, both of us wondering what this new tactic was.

"Extremely, I don't like you hanging out with…them…so much, it's dangerous, they are dangerous, I especially don't like you there by yourself without the pack."

"So how nervous do you think Mrs. Cullen is that Chris is here, on Quileute Land, with all of us wolves and none of **his** brothers with him?"

 _Ah the guilt tactic, nice one Seth, impressive, check to you, here comes the counter check._ I thought and watched Mrs. Clearwater's reaction carefully. Her body seemed to relax a bit and I could practically see the understanding washing over her. Mrs. Clearwater has seen Esme, she's met her too. She can relate that Esme is a mother just like she is, a mother concerning for her children.

"I, well…" Mrs. Clearwater started to say then stopped

"Trust has to work both ways mom, the Cullen family is risking just as much as we are with Chris and me being friends, his life is in danger just by setting foot over the border, just walking here from the woods he might have been attacked."

"I think they can take care of themselves." Mrs. Clearwater replied, but gone was the surety from her voice, she was caving faster then the Cave of Wonders in 1001 Arabian Nights.

"An entire wolf pack against one lone vampire, come on mom those odds are ridiculous."

"All right I will give you both the benefit of the doubt, that does not mean I have to be completely thrilled about this."

Seth grinned now and turned to me, giving me thumbs up, he knew I had heard the entire conversation, but I think it made him feel accomplished by letting me know everything was as cool as it was going to get.

Mother and son walked back into the kitchen to me, Mrs. Clearwater couldn't look me in the eye, but at least she wasn't wincing away from me.

"Come on Chris, everyone's going to be wondering where we are." Seth called, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a submarine sandwich that I swear was almost as tall as me, and looked like it had already been gnawed on. I wasn't even sure how it FIT in the fridge.

"Food for the road?" I asked keeping my face serious

"Well I missed breakfast, would've had time to eat if a certain someone hadn't come for an unannounced visit." He shot back and grinned.

"Yeah well who was it that said you're welcome anytime on the res?"

Seth paused a second or two as he apparently tried to come up with a witty retort, which apparently he couldn't do.

I followed him out of the house and towards the woods. At the edge of the woods he turned to me, his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk from the large chunk of sub he had just stuffed in his mouth.

"What?" I asked cautiously, his grin widened. "Look you overgrown Chihuahua, what the bloody hell are you grinning at?"

"I think mom liked you."

I stared at my best friend like he was bonkers.

"If that was liking me, I'd really hate to see what hating my bloody guts is like."

"You know for a bloodsucker on a diet you use the word 'bloody' a whole hell of a lot." He held the half eaten sub that really stunk to my face like it was a microphone "care to comment?"

I looked at him, then at the sub, I grinned. Before Seth even knew what was coming, I grabbed the sub from his hand and bolted to the woods yelling "NO COMMENT!"

Seth quickly recovered and gave chase. I heard the rip as he transformed shredding his cloths. I could hear him thundering after me, knocking down trees and barreling everything in his path.

Admittedly or not, the wolves are fast and easily match us speed and strength wise so I could feel Seth gaining on me and I could feel his emotions, and knew he wasn't angry. He knew I was only goofing and therefore I felt no danger.

I braced myself as he caught up to me. He slammed into me so hard I actually felt it and pinned me down. I stared up at the shaggy wolf that stood over me. His front paws on my chest and his snarling face inches from my own.

"All right, all right, down boy here's your sub, just don't drool on me!"

Seth looked at me hungrily. Sighing I handed the sub to him. He gobbled it up in one bite, nearly taking my hand with it.

"BLOODY HELL!" I cried "watch those fangs!" He grinned down at me, that doppy look his still on his face. "Lemme up you flea bag." Seth leaned closer "don't you even think about-" ….to late as he gave me a wet sloppy lick before darting behind a tree to transform. I was stunned with disgust as he emerged from the tree pulling on a pair of jean shorts.

"Do not mess with the Master, Cullen!" He called, slowly I stood up and wiped the drool from my face with my sleeve.

"Dude that was disgusting, your breath really is worse than your bite!" He came over and pushed me as he walked past. "Seriously if we ever become enemies don't bother biting my head off, I bet you could kill me with your breath alone!" I paused "what was in that sub anyways?"

"Ham," he answered "with spicy garlic mustard and jalapeño mayonnaise." I made a face, even if I was human that sounded gross. "Want me to run home and grab you one?"

"No thanks I'll pass. I think I'll hit Alaska later on and grab a moose." Seth raised an eyebrow

"Moose…" he said softly

"Yeah," I grinned "moose and Grizzly Bear, nutritious and delicious." Seth's face went kind of green "sorry."

"Don't worry 'bout it, I know you have to. I, I just cant really picture it."

"It's probably better if you don't. 'Cause it will lead to picturing Em. He fights his foo-prey. It's amusing, but only for us leeches. For you weak stomachs" now Seth grinned

"Weak stomachs huh?"

"When you run around as a wolf do you actually hunt?"

Seth thought this over

"Yeah once or twice, when we actually transform and stay that way for a while the animal instincts kind of takeover."

"Exactly my point, minus the wolf part, picture us chasing down an animal like you would. Leech style of hunting."

Seth kicked some dirt around with his bare foot.

"Does it make you sick at all?" he asked. We were nearing the cliffs. I could smell the salt in the air and could hear the waves crashing on the shore, most of which was drowned out by the overshadowing hoots and hollers of the pack.

I took a deep breath and looked over at my best friend.

"Naw, my body is designed to consume blood. Human food has no real taste except disgusting."

Seth didn't reply for a moment

"That's not exactly what I meant. I mean it doesn't…you don't get grossed out by it, I mean for crying out loud you are drinking blood!"

I tapped his head gently

"Hello, Wolf Boy! Vampire remember?"

"It really doesn't gross you out?"

I took a deep breath

"It did…in the beginning. The first few days the thought of drinking the blood of another being made me literally sick to my stomach, it was so bad that I wanted to hurl. But I couldn't, we don't get nauseous like humans do and 'sides even if we do, there wasn't enough human food in my stomach when I was turned to hack up."

"Why?"

"Seth I told you Carlisle turned me during the Second World War, food was heavily rationed, hell everything was rationed." I pulled off my t-shirt and Seth stared in shock

"Wo…Chris. You…you're totally emaciated."

"Big word puppy." I replied pulling my shirt back on "anyways once I had my first taste of blood that was enough, instinct took over and I forgot how appalled I was. The thirst was ten times worse and I wanted more. I was greedy for it, my body welcomed the hot salty liquid, even though it certainly felt cheated."

"Cheated?"

"Carlisle helped me with my first kill. I couldn't do it, it meant taking a life, even a rabbits life. You gotta realize my abilities to calm and feel animal emotions had really begun. I felt the fear and pain of the animals Carlisle and Edward had taken down. I was afraid and didn't think I could handle it. So Carlisle helped me. That rabbit sacrificed itself to become my first um…meal as a vampire. But my newborn body it wanted human blood and it was very gracious at letting me know."

We neared the edge of the forest at this point, the hoots and hollers, and splashes had grown louder.

"You ready for this?" Seth asked

I nodded

"More than you realize." I replied with a grin, following him out of the clearing and onto the cliffs. The fog had blanketed the outer water with clouds so thick that you could barely make out fifty or so yards away from the edge, Brady, Colin, Quill, Sam, Jared, and of course Jacob. All five stopped and stared as Seth and I emerged and I had to really fight my instinct to turn tail and run, pun intended. My profile went into overdrive looking for an escape path, knowing full well I was grossly outnumbered and outfought, running was my only option. But I took a deep breath and followed Seth to the group, the guys exchanged a look, before Jacob grinned wildly at me, slapping my shoulder

"Hey Flea!" he exclaimed, using the name that had originally been intended to be insulting, but had turned into a playful nickname between Jacob and I.

"Heard you were planning on taking the plunge?" Quill asked with the biggest grin he could muster.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked and he nudged Jacob in the ribs

"Taking the plunge kid, there are two ways to interpret that," he replied "take it how you want."

I groaned, I had forgotten about the pack's telepathy and now understood the two ways Quill's words could be interpreted.

"You guys really need to get a life," I shot back as Jacob moved closer and slung an arm around my shoulder

"So, you want to jump? Be an honorary member of the pack?" he asked, his voice turning serious for just a moment.

"If its okay with you guys," I replied as we edged closer to the cliff and I looked down.

"You're not scared of heights are you Chris?" Colin asked and the group laughed

"Not anymore," I answered, then lowered my voice, hoping that only Jacob would hear "are you guys really sure this okay?" I asked "I mean doesn't this break some kind of Quileute rule or something. You're allowing a vampire to not only participate in this ritual, but you're making him a part of the group, doesn't that go against some kind of rule here?"

Jacob rolled his eyes

"Kid you are part of the group, whether you jump off this cliff or whether you're a vampire."

"How do you figure?"

Jacob chuckled

"After all we've been through together, your family and ours, if that doesn't make us friends and even more so family I don't know what else could."

I grinned and nodded

"So all I have to do is jump?"

Jacob nodded

"And try not to drown, I really don't feel like saving you." He replied smugly

My grin widened and I backed up a little to get a good running start

"Would shouting cannon ball be inappropriate?" I asked, half serious

"Just jump Flea!" Jacob called "we're getting old here," he added laughing

"Speak for yourself!" I shot back and began running towards the edge, I jumped into the air, launching myself off the cliff and flew through the air for a few seconds, it was an amazing feeling that I could never put into words. I created a huge splash as I landed into the waves and sunk down to the bottom briefly before rocketing myself up to the surface. When I broke free of the water I looked up at the cliff, they were all crowded around the edge looking down at me and when I was spotted they broke out into cheers, hoots, and hollers.

"How's it feel?" Seth called from his perch and I grinned

"That was bloody brilliant!" I shouted, swimming towards shore, intending to do that again, I hadn't had this much fun in a long time and I was fully prepared to enjoy it as much as possible.

x-x-x-x

A/N: Okay so I am reaching out to my readers for some advice, I need to write the scene where Chris talks to Carlisle and Esme about his plans, but I'm really having a hard time putting it into words (though I have no idea why) so if anyone has any ideas or advice if you could message me that would be great! Hope everyone enjoyed the nice long chapter, I had written most of minus the actual cliff part years ago when Fi first came along into the storyline, I had the scene with Brady and Chris and Seth, Chris, and Sue Clearwater playing out in my head so hopefully you guys all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it and I hope the cliff jumping part not only made sense, but wasn't too silly.

Till next time!


	4. Chapter 4

x-x-x

By the time I got home from the cliffs, everyone else was home too, not exactly the ideal situation to talk to my parents in complete privacy; especially not with a psychic, a mind reader, an empath, very nosy one year old and an equally as nosy ninety-two year old…

I had wrongly assumed that asking Seth to be my best man and not saying the wrong thing to Fi when I finally proposed would be my greatest challenge (though it was still early for the latter to actually occur). My real concern was actually coming with Esme and Carlisle's reaction. Esme would be filled with joy to the point where she would be crying if our bodies still could, she would hug me tight and fuss over me incessantly. Carlisle wouldn't say anything at first, but would look at me with pride and happiness.

Now, what's wrong with all that? Simple, what if it's too soon…what if Fi says no. What if she panics over this and leaves…goes back to Ireland. More reason to talk to my parents in private.

After giving me a quick hug, Fi followed by Nessie headed up to her room, Fi has been giving Nessie violin lessons so they'd be gone for at least an hour, Bella and Edward after a quick hello and goodbye, headed to the cottage for some alone time, which sent Emmett into a fit of laughter, causing Edward to shoot daggers at our brother, who just ignored him, putting the NFL network on.

Carlisle and Esme settled into the family room, him reading and half paying attention to the TV and her completely ignoring it to read. To pull them away now would only catch Emmett's attention and my brother's curiosity being what it is in general, he'd never let it go until I told him why I needed to talk to our parents…in private. That ninety-two year old nosey one, definitely Emmett.

Sighing I slumped onto the armrest of the couch, not far from Esme, who looked up from her book, concerned.

"Christian what's the matter?" she asked, closing her book.

"Nothing mum," I replied, now Emmett looked away from the TV, his nosey radar on full alert.

"Something is up," Esme smiled "but first I'd like to know what was with the wet sneakers on the porch?"

Now we had Emmett's undivided attention, he grinned and muted the TV.

"Fall in the river little brother?" he asked with a knowing grin. I rolled my eyes, Esme's motherly intuition strikes again.

"I…I went down to the reservation." I explained carefully. Carlisle came out of his book focus, wincing just a little, like he did not want to reprimand me, but at the same time was not thrilled with my admission.

"Chris, I know the tribe changed the treaty a bit, but we really shouldn't pre-" he started to say, but stopped when Esme gave him her knowing look.

"Why the reservation?" she asked, knowing I would have gone there only for good reason.

"Seth invited me to go cliff diving." I replied, this was of course partly true, just not in order. Emmett now looked jealous and I gave him a simple shrug. He clearly knew there was more to it, but was fixated on the fact I got to jump off a cliff. Before he could really pry, or Esme could, Jasper stepped into the room.

"Chris?" he called and I eyed my brother suspiciously and gratefully. "The Dodge dealership just called and the line of chargers just came in, would you like to take a ride with me to check them out?"

I was still suspicious of my brother, but my ability put me into focus, Jasper was giving me a way out, even though he also wanted to talk.

With me being a distraction done, Emmett returned to the TV as did Carlisle, Esme was a little slower to return to her book, so I knew I'd be confronted by my mother at some point in the near future…hopefully then I'd be able to explain to her and Carlisle the real reason I was down at the Reservation.

I followed Jasper to the garage, where I wasn't surprised to find Alice, patiently sitting on the counter, a smug knowing smile on her face.

"I take it we're not going to look at new cars?" I asked, sighing

"Oh you are," Alice assured me "I wouldn't let Jasper lie to Esme like that." She paused "you two enjoy yourselves," she added, she took my hand, uncurled my fingers, and dropped the Audi keys into my open hand.

I looked between Alice and Jasper, trying to gage exactly what they were up to, but Alice has gotten good at somewhat masking her body language when she wants to and of course getting nearly anything out of my military minded brother is like getting Edward to admit he's an awful mechanic.

"Um, okay," was all I could muster as Jasper gently nudged me towards the Audi. Assuming I was driving I slid into the seat, pulling it as far forward as it can go as Jasper shut the passenger side. "Um, so where are we going?"

My brother chuckled and gestured for me to start the car.

"Port Angles," he answered "to the Dodge Dealership."

"Wait you were serious about that?"

Jasper gave me an exasperated look as I started the car and carefully backed it out of the garage.

"Yes I was serious. Alice has her Porsche now, I think it's high time I gained my own wheels." I looked at my brother, waiting for him to continue on that, for as long as I've known him he has shown very little interest in having his own car, sure he kind of coveted the bikes that Bella had to hide at our house, and he certainly loves to borrow my Ninja, but he's always been content driving when necessary.

So I didn't feel awkward when I gave him a look and waved my hand for him to continue, there had to be more to this.

"And?" I asked

Jasper sighed

"I hate profilers." He muttered, joking of course "let's just say a little bird told me you were struggling with a pretty big decision and I thought you might want some brotherly advice before talking with Esme and Carlisle."

"Oh," I replied "right." We were on the main road now, doing at least eighty, a comfortable speed that I knew the Audi could take.

"So you are you going to tell me, because the bird really didn't tell me much." Now I looked at Jasper in surprise "what?" he said with a chuckle "you know Alice she thought it be better if it came from you."

"Would've made it easier if she had just said it." I replied, running my hand through my hair in annoyance.

"Well, if you don't want to talk that's fine, I'm here if you need me, other than that we can sit in silence or discuss cars."

"I…" I started to say "okay look this is really hard for me start and I don't know why it was so easy to talk to Seth about this, but telling you or telling mum and dad is like…like…" I paused, I'm usually better with words than this, but this whole thing was painful. Jasper gave me a comforting grin

"Let me take a guess okay?" he suggested and I nodded, couldn't be any worse than struggling to find the right words. "You are ready to ask Fi to marry you." He guessed and I stared at my brother in disbelief.

"I thought Alice didn't tell you anything?" I managed to squeak and he rolled his eyes

"She didn't Chris, but I figured that had to be it,"

He let that sink in for a second as we drove in silence for a few minutes, him staring out the front window and me racking my brain trying to come up with the best way to word my question.

"When….when did you know?" I finally asked softly

"What do you mean?"

"When did you know you wanted to marry Alice, I mean, like the whole ceremony and everything." I paused and gave the Audi a little more gas, "what made you decide that just being together was only the start, you wanted to make it official." I took a deep breath, gaging my brother's reaction, "too personal?"

He shook his head

"No, just caught me off guard a bit," I raised an eyebrow in surprise, those were a few words I never expected to hear from Jasper. He ignored my reaction and continued "I think it was more for tradition, it had never crossed my mind as a necessity even before we came. But I knew Alice would want that moment and to put into words and put into a single moment all I felt for Alice seemed foolish, but at the same time important."

"A single moment," I repeated, "you guys knew right off that bat you weren't going to pull a Rose and Emmett?"

"Exactly,"

I mulled over this for a minute or two. Before we hit the actual highway, I pulled over on the side and put the car into park. Jasper looked at me expectantly, if my brother was surprised he hid it well.

"How about you drive for a while," I said softly, Jasper shrugged and slid out. We changed seats and I settled into the material as Jasper put the car into drive and returned to our original route.

"I've never seen you so unsure of something kid," Jasper pointed out "seriously why are you so concerned about this?"

I took a deep breath, of my brothers, Jasper had always been the easiest to talk to, it's so strange to think we couldn't stand each other in the beginning, didn't trust each other...I trust all three of my brothers, but Jasper has always made it the easiest to talk to, to know I wouldn't be judged for my fears or concerns and wouldn't know about them before hand by reading my mind.

"What if she's not ready... what if I'm not? I mean I feel like we are…but I can't tell if it's a profile or if it's just me wanting it to be true so my profile is making it so." I rubbed my temple "argh this is bloody ridiculous."

Jasper chuckled a little

"Chris, there is no right or wrong answer to this. It's something you feel. I will say you and Fi probably have the toughest time ahead of you with this, at least in your own minds."

I looked at my brother quickly, this whole thing was already tough enough, what could possibly make it worse

"What do you mean?" I asked "and what do you mean in our own minds?"

"You both are adults in one sense, but still teenagers in the other, young teenagers."

"Gee thanks for the reminder."

"No I'm serious, you are being pulled in two different directions between what you feel and what you believe."

"How do I make those two directions come together?" I asked, more to myself than to my brother

"You need to ask yourself something first," Jasper started to say "Is this something you want or is this something you think you must do?" I thought this over "because if this is what you think you must do or have to do than that's fine it's your decision, but that's the question you should be asking. We will all support you no matter what. I've seen how you and Fi are together I've felt your emotions and hers, you two complete each other hands down."

"I... look the rest of you are all adults. Like you said we're teenagers, young teenagers. I may pretend that I'm on the same maturity level as you guys and pretend that I'm as old as I know I am, but I'm stuck in this body…stuck as a thirteen year old kid." I ran my fingers along the leather material encasing the door near the window. "What thirteen year old kid knows about love and marriage?" I paused "physically Fi is older than me, almost two whole years, so she might be in a better position than me, but seriously what do I know, I know the technical stuff from watching you guys, but I feel like I'm jumping into a chasm with no idea of what is on the bottom. If I feel this way, does that mean I'm making the wrong decision here?"

"Chris let me ask you this, why do you think people get married?"

I thought this over for a moment or two. I had never really thought about the why, I had just always assumed it was what two people who love each other did. So that was the answer I gave my brother

"Because they love each other and are committed to spending the rest of their lives together?" I said, unsure of my own answer.

"True, but do you really need a whole ceremony for that?" Jasper pointed out "Alice and I fell under that category easily without Carlisle walking her down the aisle or my putting a ring on her finger." He paused "the same can be said of every couple who has ever gotten married. Once you both feel that connection and both parties feel that commitment to their other half you are married, regardless of pomp and circumstance. Does that make sense?"

"I suppose. So the rest of it. It's just for show?"

"More like for everyone else. A chance for everyone to share in the happiness of two individuals."

Now I nodded understanding a lot more than I had.

"What about the other part of this." I asked

"Which part?"

"The what if we're not ready part, the jumping into a chasm part. What if I'm misreading my profile and I'm risking what we have gained the last few months and potentially scaring Fi away."

I could tell by his face Jasper wanted to laugh, but of course he wouldn't. Jasper is more mature than any of us Cullen siblings, even Rosalie at times.

"Chris trust me there isn't a man alive who has felt that same fear, we all fear that we will scare them away. I remember when my eldest brother decided he wanted to get married. I was young at the time, seven perhaps eight, and I asked our father why he was down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage."

"What did he say?"

"He said that when a man is proposing to woman he is basically begging her to take his hand, hence why he is down on one knee."

I burst out laughing a little bit at that, it made a lot of sense and was still funny at the same time

"So I should risk it?"

"Only you can answer that little brother, but I think you'll come to the answer pretty easily. If you just think about it."

I nodded

"Thanks Jas,"

"Anytime kid." He paused and smiled "this whole thing may be your moment Chris, but it's going to be just as special for the rest of us."

"How so?"

"Carlisle and Esme for one thing, the family officially complete." He paused again and the smile broke out into a knowing grin "not to mention Alice and Rose,"

I stared at my brother

"Oh crap," I muttered

"Just think Chris, how much of a fight do you think Bella gave them?"

"Knowing Bella, a helluv one,"

"Exactly, in all honesty it's Fi who should worry the most." Jasper chuckled "I think after you propose Chris you might want to fill her in on all she has to expect. You know the girls are relentless."

Boy did I know that one and Fi is just quiet enough that she might just go along with whatever my sisters do, just to keep the peace.

"What about Carlisle and Esme?" I asked "how do I start that conversation."

"Well to be perfectly honest kid, I'm pretty sure Esme already suspects that's why you went down to the reservation.

"Seriously?"

"Come on Chris you know Esme. The only reason she let you come with me and didn't push you for details is because she's not certain and is assuming you'll talk to her when you're ready."

I grinned at my brother

"When did you become a profiler?"

"When it comes to certain members of our family who are predictable like that, it's not that difficult."

"So what do I say to them?"

"Just tell them." He replied "it'll be fine." He added chuckling

"What is so funny now?"

"I'm just imagining Rose and Alice and they're reaction." He paused "you two are going to be in so much trouble."

I slapped my hand against my forehead

"Oh bloody hell." I thought it over "think we could elope?"

Now Jasper burst out laughing loudly

"Yeah, good luck with that one!"

x-x-x

Jasper ended selecting a really magnificent Dodge Charger, I'm not really a Dodge fan minus the Jeep Wranglers, but even I had to admit this car was beautiful. It was all black with a dark gray interior and damn was it fast. We waited until it was later in the evening before we headed home, me driving the Audi, but as soon as we were on the straightaway for the highway, Jasper and I exchanged a look via the rearview mirrors and I pulled alongside him. He reved his engine and though I couldn't do the same properly with Esme's Audi, I did give it a little gas, while keeping my foot on the brake. It would be a quick test drive, really open the Charger up and see what it could do, granted we knew it wouldn't go as fast as it could, I would have to get under the hood in the next few days and remove the governor. But for now a quick drag race wouldn't hurt anyone.

I knew the Audi wouldn't be any match for a Charger, but I was impressed that my mum's car kept up the pace for a little bit, before it lost momentum and the Charger shot off ahead, before it too lost steam, IE the bloody governor kicked in.

By the time we returned home it was nearly midnight. Edward, Bella, and Nessie were back at their cottage, Fi I assumed was upstairs in her room reading as I could see an empty box sitting on the dining room table, she recently discovered Amazon and (after asking for permission, which my parents assured her she didn't need) has been ordering tons of books from the website, every other day a package arrives addressed to Carlisle or Esme from Amazon and we all know who it belongs to.

I wanted to pop upstairs and see what she was reading and say hi, but Alice was waiting for Jasper and I in the garage and literally maneuvered me to Carlisle's office.

I knew my father had a shift coming up in a few hours and was most likely finishing up some of his patient notes from the previous night. Giving Alice an exasperated look, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," he called and smiled when I poked my head in "hello Chris, how'd you and Jasper make out?"

"Pretty good," I replied

"Come on in,"

"You sure?" I asked, hesitating a little, I never liked to bother my father when he was working like this, left over instinct from experience with my human father. He loved it when I distracted him, but always regretted it later on when he was spending most of the nights going over his work that could have been completed at a reasonable hour. Not that Carlisle had to worry about that, but still.

"Please, I could use a distraction for a little bit."

Not needing anymore of an invite than that I walked into his office and shut the door behind me, fully aware that Alice was on the other side, listening. At least she would be until Jasper caught her and pulled her away, which he did the moment I walked closer to Carlisle's large oak desk.

"So Jasper was successful?" Carlisle asked as I sat down "new addition to the family?"

"Yup," I paused "but speaking of additions, mum may need to put on an addition to the garage."

Carlisle chuckled

"Are we talking Jeep or truck size?"

"Neither," I replied with a grin "hummer." Carlisle's eyes went wide as he looked at me in what can only be described as horror. Emmett has been begging our father for years to get a Humvee and for whatever reason Carlisle refuses to give in on that particular vehicle. Maybe it's the size maybe it's the connotation that is associated with the pretty obnoxious automobile, whatever the reason Emmett's Jeep is as close to a Hummer that my brother will ever get, hence why the Jeep is ridiculously huge.

"Christian," Carlisle started, his voice reaching a warning tone and I grinned wider

"Kidding," Carlisle looked relieved "it's a Dodge Charger, pretty nice too."

"Well that's a relief." He paused and closed his folder to look at me carefully "so what's going on?"

"I went down to the reservation to ask Seth something and…Alice "saw" me struggling with the best way to speak to you and mum about it so she asked Jasper to take me for a ride to talk."

"About what Chris?" Carlisle asked, his voice full of concern "you know you can speak to us about anything."

"I know," I assured him "this just needed a second opinion before I got the real opinion." I explained, at least I hope I did.

"Go on,"

"I want to ask Fi to marry me," I said softly "but I was having trouble focusing on the decision if it was the right one, if I was making a rash choice and should wait…"

Carlisle sat there stunned for about three seconds before his face broke into a pleased smile

"Christian this is wonderful news!" he exclaimed

"Really?" I said "you don't think I'm being rash here?"

"Do you think you are?"

I took a deep breath

"I told Jasper I couldn't tell, my profile isn't helping at all in this situation. I can't tell what is simply irrational feelings and what is a profile."

Carlisle chuckled

"Ignore your profiling for a little bit Chris, this isn't about profiling and it's not about what everyone else believes you should do. This is solely on you right now." He paused, stood up and knelt down next to me "you need to do what you feel you should do and you know we will all support you whatever move you make."

I took another deep, almost calming breath and closed my eyes for a second. It's always been difficult for me to move past my profile, I rely on it so much that not using it is…well like not blinking or breathing, neither are necessary for us, but because it's instinctual to do we rarely deviate from performing these actions. My profile works the same way, it's second nature to me…but I can block it if I concentrate and I knew what I wanted to do, profile completely aside.

I looked up at my father and he waited patiently for me to speak up, never pushing, never looking expectantly, just waiting.

"Cou…could you take me to pick out a ring for her?" I asked slowly and he smiled wide, hugging me tight

"Of course!" he exclaimed then paused, releasing me as he smiled knowingly "but first, we need to include your mother in this conversation."

I nodded, feeling a weight lifted off my shoulder, why I had doubted myself in the first place, doubted my feelings was beyond me…then again maybe it was like Jasper had said, Fi and I were in a tough spot age wise, the epitome of stuck in the most confusing age bracket anyone can go through.

x-x-x-x


	5. Chapter 5

x-x-x-x

Once Esme calmed down and stopped hugging me. I was able to sneak away upstairs. I paused as I neared Fi's room, I could hear music playing, but it wasn't her violin, it was coming from a radio, she was probably reading. I felt a wave of nerves flow up and down my back, I had plans on how I would go about proposing and the following afternoon Carlisle was taking me to Seattle to pick out her ring before I would actually propose.

I took a deep breath, would I be able to go into the room and say hi to her and not give any clues about what I was going to do? I've always been good at making sure people can't read me like I can them, and it's worked out fairly well in my lifetime, with a few unmentionable moments. Part of me wanted to keep walking and just go to my room and try and compose myself, but I couldn't do that, this was Fi, my… girlfriend…friend…hopefully soon to be fiancé. I ran my hand through my hair and shook my head, I was definitely out of my element here and my chat with Jasper had done little to sooth that end of it.

"Chris, what are you doing boyo?" she called from inside, the music suddenly going mute as she came to the door and leaned against the frame, looking at me expectantly, a playful grin on her face.

"Uh…huh, just listening to the music," I stuttered "trying to figure out what it was?"

"Right," Fi replied giggling "it's a group Rose told me about, OneRepublic, I like their music, it's good to read by."

"Oh, yeah, um, their one of the better groups that Rose listens to, trust me you did not want to be around here for Beatlemania, it was a nightmare," I added, Fi's face went hurt for a second and I panicked

"I like the Beatles," she replied, "what's wrong with them,"

"I…uh, oh…" I tried to regain my composure as her face broke out into the grin again and she started laughing

"Wow, I didn't think I would be able to get you like that," she said hugging me, I nodded and hugged her back, before she headed back over to her chair and settled down.

"Yup, you got me," and she had, I had really thought I had hurt her feeling when I said the Beatles were a nightmare, believe me I wasn't exaggerating on that, Rose and Alice played 'I Want to be your man' over and over again for weeks after that album was released, it even reached the point where I hid the turntable just have some peace in the house, and oh my bloody god that blasted Walrus song…way over my limit. "Do you really like the Beatles?"

"A little, my sister was a bigger fan than I was, though I did like Paul. But trust me I know how crazy their fans could get, my sister was one of those crazies." Fi paused and smiled at the memory "we saw a broadcast of the Beatles arrival in America and how the girls greeted them…if she could have my sister would've been there." I nodded I did not have anything of that nature I could relate to on that level, at least not from my childhood. "So how'd the car shopping go?" Fi asked, scooting over a little in her chair so I could sit next to her.

"Jasper is now the proud owner of his first official car…a new Dodge Charger," I explained "and once I get in there and make some adjustments it'll put Edward's Volvo to shame in the speed department, might even be enough to take on the vanquish."

Fi rolled her eyes and laughed a little, before she leaned her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around hers'.

"Chris…could you…I mean can you…can you teach me to drive?" she asked softly and I looked at her

"Of course,"

"I mean I've always wanted to learn, and my dad did let me sit in his lap when I was little to steer, but I've always wanted to learn." She paused and grinned "maybe I'll be able to have a car someday."

I chuckled and nodded

"Do you want to learn now?" I asked as Fi leaned her head against my shoulder, still focused on her book

"Do I...? Now? Auch no!" She exclaimed giggling a little "I just reached a real cliffhanger of a chapter. I am not moving from this room 'till I finish it. I'm just saying in the near future I would like to learn."

I chuckled and reached over to pull the book closer to me, to better read the title,

"Sarah's Key?" I asked, confused "okay."

"It's really good, I had never even heard of it before." Fi paused and grinned at me "did you know that Amazon recommends books to you? If you look for one particular book it'll find books that are similar or that it thinks you might like."

I chuckled, Fi's obsession with Amazon is reaching intervention level. Her timidness about Carlisle's no limit credit card and using said credit card hadn't exactly faded, but it had lessened when he assured her again that it was okay to use. I may be enabling her obsession, but I had already preordered her Christmas present, well at least one of them, Amazon is releasing something called an eReader in November, it's a device that can hold thousands of books and even audio books.

It helps to have connections in the electronics business, hence why I was able to preorder something that has been largely kept secret. I know Fi will have a blast with it and between it and all the physical books she goes through she'll never run out of things to read, she'll put the library out of business when we get her a library card. She's also gotten pretty good with computers in general, which is amazing considering her virtually no exposure to them.

"I did know that," I replied, returning to the conversation "that's actually how I ended up with all those Haunting books, they kept recommending them to me." Fi grinned and laughed a little "What I'm serious." I paused "so what's this about?"

"It's quite fascinating actually and very sad. It jumps back and forth between 1942 and 2005, this woman she's an American moves to France and marries a Parisians, when they start renovating her husband's family apartment she finds a connection between the apartment and the Jewish family who lived there before the war. It follows not only the American woman, but also the little girl whose family owned the apartment and were arrested by the French police during the war." Fi paused and took a deep breath "the author ends with a cliffhanger so it is impossible to stop reading because you want to know what happened on both sides of the story."

I nodded, it did sound interesting and a little close to home as well. Most stories involving World War Two tend to resonate with me, stirring up what memories I have left of the Blitz and the war itself and reminding me of the ones that have always stayed with me.

"You said it was the French police who arrested them?" I asked, confused by that particular fact.

Fi nodded

"Yes I was surprised by that too, not the Nazis or anyone associated with them, it was their very own police. It is hard to tell, but the author makes it sound like they did it on their own accord, no influence from the Germans." She paused "and it sounds like it's something that most of France, but especially Paris tried to hide from history, it's like later generations realized what had been done, were rightly horrified by it, and tried to pretend it didn't actually happen."

I thought this over, trying to remember France and Paris, the last time we had been in the city had been a few years or so before the war, our last real family outing. Paris had always felt like a second home to me, I could speak the language fluently and loved visiting it.

So of course when it fell to the invading German Army my whole family was devastated, mainly because my aunt on my mother's side was there and once France fell we never heard from her…if she survived the way I have no idea, I never thought to look into it…until now at least. But I had such a hard time imagining, even fathoming France turning on its own citizens like that, all over Europe there were stories that emerged after the war of cities and even entire countries that protected its citizens regardless of their faith. Denmark did all it could to smuggle its Jewish citizens across the sea to Sweden, which remained Nazi free, Norwegians, after putting up a helluva fight, still continued to hide their Jewish neighbors and wore paperclips to silently protest the German presence and support the Jews forced to wear the yellow stars, even England accepted hundreds of children, evacuated from German strongholds, changing their names and protecting them. How could France just accept the Germans like that and do their bidding…or worse do it because they wanted to, with no German influence at all.

I gave a shiver, this idea was pretty out there, I knew the French people, I had spent enough time in France with my parents that it was difficult for me to imagine, but at the same time, it was possible…more than that it was true, it had to be, even if I didn't want to believe it.

Fi had gone back to reading while I was lost in my thoughts, not that I blamed her, this was history to her, something that had all happened long before her time, something she could have easily read about in a history book and made no connection with other than a very sad moment in history, but for me this was my history, my reality, my time.

I started to slid out of the chair, I needed to do some research, I wanted to go online and see if there was anything about this. Fi came out of her book world and grabbed my sweatshirt sleeve.

"I was going to let you get back to your book, didn't want to distract you," I explained when she looked at me expectantly

"Nessie is really quite good at the violin," she said with a smile "she's a natural."

I nodded

"No surprise there, Edward's pretty musically inclined, well playing the instruments, his taste in music is something else entirely."

Fi chuckled at that

"I don't think genetics plays quite as much into musical talent as you think it does."

I grinned

"Well, I'm basing this all on experience, my dad couldn't carry a tune to save his life, nor could my mother, going back at least two generations of Callaghan's there is one piper in the entire family who was considered the black sheep of the family,"

"Because he was a musician? Fi asked "or because his instrument of choice was the bagpipes?"

"Neither, because he had two sets of bagpipes and named them both after King Henry the 8th and Anne Boylan, and carried on full conversations with them as if they really were Henry and Anne. We're convinced he thought they really were." I grinned "my father's uncle was a little, shall we say odd."

"But still, where do you fall into this?" Fi asked and I looked at her confused "oh don't give me that look Christian,"

Now my eyes went wide, she actually used my full name and I chuckled a little, she was trying to sound authoritative, but failing miserably

"What do you mean where do I fall into all this?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and avoid laughing all together, of course I knew where she was heading, I could sing, that did not count in my mind as proof musical talent was not genetic.

"I've heard you sing Chris, you have a wonderful voice," I rolled my eyes and she gently smacked my arm "don't," her voice turned serious and almost motherly, I'm pretty sure she had been spending way too much time with Esme. "I'm serious, genetics or not you have a talent and it's a beautiful talent."

"How did we get on this subject?" I asked

"I mentioned that Nessie has taken with the violin very well."

"Right," I waved my hand for her to continue wondering if there was more to this conversation, she smiled knowingly

"And she was wondering why your lessons haven't started yet."

I slid off the chair and leaned down so I was eyelevel with Fi, who continued to look at me expectantly, but I could see the sides of her mouth turning upwards, she was fighting her grin.

"Next time she asks, tell her a good teacher never discusses another student's progress with another student." I kissed her cheek and bolted to the door, I could feel her rolling her eyes at me as I left

"What progress you?!" she called out "you haven't even started!" I could hear her laughing as I walked into my own room.

x-x-x

I felt guilty as Carlisle, Jasper, and I drove off the following morning, heading for Vancouver. I know Esme wanted to come, but at the same time she knew it would not only be suspicious to Fi, but a little awkward having my mother accompany me to pick out an engagement ring. Even so, I wanted Esme to be part of the process, it didn't feel right leaving her out, so she kept her cell phone on hand, waiting for Carlisle or me to call, describing the ring in question before purchasing it, her phone also has the capability to receive pictures, so were planning on taking a photo of the ring as best we could and sending it to her, the wonders of technology.

We purposely picked a jeweler outside of Washington State, Vancouver seemed to be the most logical choice and if I didn't find what I was looking for any where there, we had many, many other options to go by.

I knew it would be weird…okay inconceivable for an fourteen year old kid, who looks eleven or twelve to be picking out an engagement ring, so Jasper stood in for me. He could read my emotions and would know which ring resonated with me best. By the time we had hit three shops in Vancouver, I was losing hope, nothing had stood out to me and I assumed that I would know which ring was perfect the minute I saw it. The man behind the counter of the third store greeted us with a look that clearly said 'commission', he was determined to sell us the most expensive thing in that shop, especially when Jasper explained he was looking for an engagement ring, not to mention the guy had seen us pull up in Carlisle's Mercedes, we screamed money apparently.

As the salesman talked Jasper's ear off about why one ring, one particular diamond setting was far superior to another, Carlisle and I wandered around, in my case pretending to be bored out of my mind. The security guard and the saleswoman in the store paid us no mind as we casually glanced at several cases, waiting 'patiently' for Jasper to make up his mind. In reality I was studying the contents of each display case, hoping the perfect ring would catch my attention. As much as I wasn't really sure I wanted to give this commission hungry salesman our business, I was getting frustrated with each shop and quickly losing hope of ever finding the perfect ring…heck I still wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for in the first place.

I did feel a pang of sadness as I wandered around. I would have loved to have used my mother's engagement ring…it had been my grandmother's and her mother before that. When my father approached my grandparents to ask for permission to marry my mother, my grandmother gave him her engagement ring, which my great grandmother had given my grandfather when he did the same. I wish I could've continued that tradition, I don't even know what happened to the ring, I could only assume (and hope) that my mother was buried with it.

All the rings were ridiculously huge with diamonds galore and to me stupidly expensive, even though Carlisle as always reminded me not to worry about the cost. All the rings though felt generic and impersonal, like the diamonds themselves had to be the biggest stone and it was only there to highlight how rich someone was. That was me and I knew for a fact that certainly wasn't Fi…that wasn't anyone in our family, not even Rose.

"If we don't find it here," Carlisle whispered to me "we have other options, if this takes all day and driving all around the Pacific Northwest to find it, we will do it. Don't settle Christian, it has to feel right, it will speak to you."

I looked at my father and nodded my thanks

"Now, the setting on this particular stone is one of a kind." The jeweler was explaining to Jasper, who hide it well, but I knew he was dying of boredom himself.

"A little longer and we'll head out, give your brother some time," Carlisle said to me in a normal tone for the benefit of the salesman and partially to let Jasper know a few more minutes we would move on, nothing was hitting me.

Jasper pretended to give me a warning look, like I was an annoying little brother who was driving him nuts with my boredom, but his eyes and body language said something entirely different. He had spotted something I might like. He carefully moved away from one particular case and like a puppy, the salesman followed Jasper to the other side of the store. I pulled out my phone and pretended to be playing on it, but I wandered over to the case my brother had been at to look inside.

I was pretty sure none of these were engagement rings, at least not what I had come to understand were engagement rings, they were simple, which was the first thing that really caught my attention, different styles, but all very simple and small, with one or two stones imbedded for the setting. But it was one set further back than the others, partially hidden by a pair of earrings that really caught my attention. It was a Claddagh ring, a beautiful gold ring with the two hands holding an emerald stone shaped heart, also circled around the emerald were smaller diamonds, completing the hands and the band.

I'm Scottish, not Irish, but I knew how important the Claddagh rings are in Irish culture and I knew what they stood for, Love, Friendship, and Loyalty. If there was a perfect engagement ring out there, this was it…this was Fi and what it stood for, stood for Fi and I and what we have.

Jasper chuckled and wandered back over to the other case as he felt my emotions shift from bored and frustrated to thrilled. Carlisle came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder

"Well?" he whispered and I nodded, trying to contain my grin

"Found it," I replied, my father looked in the case, but he didn't have to ask which ring I had spotted, he knew, he knew me and knew my strong connection to my heritage and my respect for Fi's. I carefully took a picture of it and sent it to Esme's phone, she may be able to receive photos with no problem, but Esme is 100% against texting and will not text back. So I wasn't surprised when Carlisle's phone went off, barely a minute after I sent the photo.

"Hello love," Carlisle answered and I chuckled, he indiscreetly covered my mouth and playfully pushed me back.

"Is that what I think it is?" Esme asked, I could hear her perfectly clear, even over the jeweler speaking to Jasper and the other saleswoman who was now helping a couple that had just entered the store.

"We believe so," Carlisle replied "what do you think, Chris wants your opinion before he makes any final decision."

"Let me speak to him," Esme said and Carlisle handed me the phone

"Hi mum," I said softly

"Sweetie, it is a beautiful ring," she started to say

"But?" I replied and I could picture her smiling as she answered

"But you don't need my permission or approval,"

I took a deep breath and nodded even though she couldn't see me

"I know, but I wanted it, I want your opinion,"

"Christian," Esme said softly "I think it is perfect, but all that matters is you think so as well." She paused "do you?"

"Yes," I replied "it is perfect,"

"Then go for it," Esme replied "I can't wait to see it in person."

"Thank you mum, see you when we get home," I handed the phone back to Carlisle and he said his own goodbye, before hanging up and looking back at Jasper.

"Well sadly sir," Jasper spoke up "I think we're going to keep looking, nothing seems to be hitting me."

The salesman looked panicked, as if he was watching money walk out the door right in front of him

"Oh, but sir, surely there is one piece in here that catches your attention, you know that first one you had your eye on, excellent setting that one was, and if you pick that ring, we can guarantee it indefinitely, any repairs or cleaning it needs you just come to us and we'll take care of it free of charge."

"I do appreciate that and I appreciate your time, but I think I'm going to keep looking." Jasper explained, he paused "but I did see a ring in that case over there, a birthday present for our mother," he looked over at me "Chris did you see it?"

I pretended to glance, bored, at the case and nodded

"Yeah I like that, mum will too," I added

The salesman's deemed changed from panicky to somewhat relieved, at least we were buying something. He scurried over to the case and admired what we had chosen as he gently took out from the case and displayed it to us on the counter, now seeing it in the full light of the store, I could fully appreciate how perfect it was, I didn't even think it needed to be resized, that is how perfect it was, I was almost 100% sure it would fit Fi's finger with no problem.

I suppressed my grin as I indiscreetly nodded at Carlisle.

"Yes, this will be a perfect birthday gift Chris," he said

"If you would like you and your wife can come in any time and we will gladly size it for her." The salesman said "free of charge," he added and I did my best to not roll my eyes at that, this guy was definitely desperate for a commission of any sort.

"Thank you, but that really won't be necessary," Carlisle assured him "we will take it however,"

The jeweler nodded, even though we could see he was disappointed, I'm sure that free of charge resizing deal came with a massive catch that he had just lost. He carefully put the ring in a box and carefully wrapped that box in tissue paper, before placing it in a small fancy bag, which he handed to Carlisle.

"Thank you for choosing Hilderman's Jeweler, we hope to see you again," he said waving as we headed towards the door, we chorused a thank you, before making our way out the door and towards the Mercedes.

Once inside the car, with Carlisle in the driver seat and me in the back, we all burst out laughing, well Jasper and I did, Carlisle just rubbed his forehead and chuckled as Jasper started the car up and we drove off.

When we were about a mile or so away from the shop, Jasper turned to look at me and I grinned back at my brother.

"Thanks so much for spotting that Jas," I said, "I would've missed it if you hadn't said something."

"Hey I wasn't just there to keep the salesman occupied," Jasper replied returning the grin "I was looking out for you." He added

"And I really appreciate it,"

"Can I see it?" he asked and Carlisle nodded

"Yes, Chris let's see it,"

I reached into the bag carefully and extracted the box, handing it up front to my brother who admired it closely, Carlisle glanced over several times to look at it and both my brother and father nodded their approval.

"I know it's not as fancy as some of those other rings," I said "but it felt right, this feels like Fi more than any of those other ones."

"And that's what is most important." Carlisle explained and Jasper nodded in agreement "I think all of us can agree that none of those large diamond rings were Fi, they're just not her personality, but this, I can see Fi wearing this."

"Me too," I replied "now I just need to figure out how to ask her," I added, as Jasper handed the box back and I carefully tucked it back in its bag.

"Are you still worrying about that?" he asked and I nodded "keep it simple," I looked at him as if he was mad "I'm serious Chris, just keep it simple, no need for fancy speeches or declarations of love…save that for the wedding itself and your vows. Simply ask her."

I looked at Carlisle for his answer to that, but my father just nodded and I took a deep breath…just ask her. Easier said than done.

x-x-x

A few days after our trip to Vancouver, slowly walked down the stairs from my room, I had been waiting for the right moment, waiting for my nerves to calm and I knew it was now or never. I felt the box in my pocket tapping against my leg as I walked carefully down the stairs. Jasper and Carlisle's suggestion about how to approach this played over and over in my mind

Fi wasn't difficult to find, I could hear her laugh echoing throughout the house. I love her laugh, sometimes when she really gets going she squeaks, not snorts squeaks like a little mouse or a dog toy as Emmett has concluded. It just adds to the reasoning behind "Fi Fi" and trust me Fi is not amused.

She was in the family room with Esme and Alice watching a movie, well they were watching a movie, she was only half paying attention, the rest of her attention was on a new book that had come in the mail earlier that day. When I came down the steps she looked up right away and smiled at me.

"Fi, can I speak with you?" I asked softly trying to keep my voice steady. My body was shaking from nerves. She looked over at Esme and Alice curiously for a moment, but my mother and sister refused to give her an answer aside from smiling at one another.

"Ok," she replied standing up and walking over to me "Chris is everything ok?" I nodded and held out my hand which she took without hesitation.

"I'm going for a run, will you come with me?" Fi looked back at Esme and Alice for a moment before nodding, she was curious and that was what I was hoping for, her curiosity will always win out in the end.

Still hand in hand we stepped out onto the porch and faced the woods that surround the large mansion like farmhouse. I lifted her hand up and kissed it gently

"Christian Cullen what are you up too?" she asked smiling

"You'll see, keep up ok?" now she raised an eyebrow

"Keep up…really, you're telling me to keep up" her thick northern Ireland accent sang sweetly in my ears "I think you're a little full of yourself boyo."

I returned the grin

"Then prove it Fi Fi, keep up." I finished bolting off into the woods

"Oh now it's on!" she called from not too far behind, I could feel her gaining. I'm the second fastest in the family after Edward, but Fi is no slowpoke either. We darted around trees running as fast as we could heading north from Forks. Fi probably had no way to know where we were going, she had only been here once and we had gone by bike, not foot, but I knew…I knew the perfect spot, the only spot to propose.

In northern Washington, overlooking Neah bay there is a cliff. It is impossible for humans to get to it without climbing equipment and skill but for a vampire its not even a challenge. This is where I was heading.

Since I joined the Cullen family we have lived all over the place and out of all those places only three places have ever felt like a true home, Forks had easily become one of those only because of how much time we have spent there and because of my new found friends. Denali is a close second, I love Alaska's untamed atmosphere and can spend hours just gazing out at the endless mound of snow. But if I had to choose one place that I would want to spend the rest of my life, it would be Neah Bay.

It's a small fishing village, we had lived here in the late forties and I would just sit in the loft and watch the ships coming in and out of the harbor. It was peaceful and it reminded me of the small village in Scotland where my family was originally from, before we moved to London for my father's medical career, leaving behind my aunt and uncle and cousins.

My brothers could never understand why Neah Bay was so important to me, or why I was continually drawn to it and aside from it reminding me of my home in Scotland I do not know either. I don't know why I could sit on that cliff and lose myself for hours, sometimes even days. I had taken Fi here once before, on a whim when I was trying to sort out my feelings for her and trying to determine if I would be safe from Liam's wrath for showing interest in her. It had also been around Christmastime so the town's lights were ablaze with the season and it had been snowing so it was pretty amazing…

We neared the base of the cliff and giving Fi a wink I scaled the cliff basin, she was still right behind me and when I reached the top I put my hand down to pull her up the remainder of the way.

"This is still so beautiful," she said softly moving closer to me and I put my arm around her shoulders, hugging her. "I mean it was so peaceful and beautiful in the winter, but even now it's still spectacular."

"It definitely is," I replied. The sun was just starting to rise we were high enough and far enough from the village itself that even if the light hit our granite like skin all the townsfolk would see would be light refracting on the cliff face. "This has always been my favorite spot in the world." I explained taking her hand again "but I want it to be more than my favorite spot, I want it to be our favorite spot." I paused and she gave my hand a squeeze "Fi…I have a question for you."

"Another one?" Fi replied "I thought asking me to go with you was the question."

I grinned and shook my head.

"That was a request that you agreed to accept." I answered. Still holding her hand I took the other one and knelt down on one knee. Her face told me all I needed to know leading up to the question itself, she was surprised and happy at the same time. She knew what was coming and I think that if our bodies were able to do so, she would be crying right now. I felt my nerves catching up to me, resembling how my heart should be feeling right now, out of control. But I also felt a sense of satisfaction and relief, Fi's body language told me everything I needed to know, I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do, she wanted this just as much as I did, I wasn't about to scare her off, we were both ready for this step.

"Oh Chris," she said softly, a joyful smile forming on her face,

"Fiona Larissa Nickelson," I started, taking another deep, calming breath "would you do me the great honour of accepting my hand in marriage?"

I held out the jewelry box, the Claddagh ring and it's few diamonds sparkled in the sunlight as Fi stared at the box.

A second ticked by then another, even though I think Fi expected the question she was still taken aback by it or maybe it was the ring itself. She put one hand to her mouth and nodded, her smile

"Yes…yes o' course I will!" she exclaimed, reaching forward to dive into my arms, I nearly toppled over, but I regained my balance quickly and I hugged her tight, before we kissed, it wasn't like we hadn't kissed before, but this one felt different, like we had never kissed before like it was the first time and it felt special, It was fitting, that the first time we had kissed was this spot and now we kissed as an engaged couple in a spot that was no longer my spot, it was our spot.

I felt like I had the first time I ever saw Fi, when I walked into my house full of vampires, some I knew and but many I didn't know, but all I saw was the this copper haired girl sitting off to the side, her nose buried in a book, with her coven by her side. She had looked up and our eyes met and that was all it took. My profile had screamed at me…this is your soul mate, she's the one.

She pulled herself back for a moment and I slid the engagement ring onto her finger, she admired it for a second or two, as the words escaped her.

We inched ourselves to the very edge of the cliff so our feet dangled over the side, sitting side by side, holding each other close. Not only could you see the sun rising over the harbour, but the boats as well, it was peaceful and calming just as I had always remembered it. Fi leaned closer to me and I put my arm around her shoulders holding her tight.

"Tha gaol agam ort" I whispered, she looked up at me quickly and smiled. We both speak both our countries' native tongue fluently. Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are similar, not quite identical in words and pronunciation, but so similar that only a native speaker can tell the difference. Ironically, both Irish and Scottish for 'I love you' is the same.

"Tha gaol agam ort Christian." She replied nuzzling into my neck, I took a deep breath and sighed, Jasper was right, keep it simple and just ask…

A/N: I am so so sorry for the delay in updating this. November was a tough writing month for me, mainly because I participated in a month long writing challenge. I don't know if anyone out there has heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but it is a writing challenge to help aspiring writers get their novels written, especially for those who have a hard time staying focused or need a deadline to work with. Basically you have the entire month of November to write at least 50,000 words of your own novel, it sounds easy, but trust me staying focused like that and actually writing a few thousand words every day and remember to update that total on the website was a challenge. The challenge offers a lot of encouragement and prompts to keep going and there are actually a lot of well-known novels that have actually been published, that started out as a NaNoWriMo challenge and a lot of authors out there utilized the challenge to get going. If you're interested in trying it next year, definitely check it out by googling NaNoWriMo, like I said it was a challenge, but it was a fun and definitely rewarding challenge.

I love writing fanfiction and don't plan on stopping, but it is and always has been practice for my own novel, which I have been procrastinating and struggling with for many years now, but NaNoWriMo gave me a lot of encouragement to actually sit down and work on it, but unfortunately it meant I wasn't able to put a lot of focus on my fanfics, trust me this was not the only one that was neglected that I am now returning to in full swing. If anyone is curious though I did get to well over the 50,000 words and now that the challenge is over, I've still been faithfully picking at the novel it is up to 51,400 words.

Anyways, thank you guys so much for your patience as I neglected this fic and the others this past November, but I hope this chapter made up for it and the next chapter will not be quite as long of a wait. Till then, take care and thanks again everyone!


	6. Chapter 6

x-x-x-x

We didn't run home, in fact we took our time, hand in hand we walked slowly, mainly because I think both of us were nervous about announcing this to the family…I mean granted some of them already knew, but it was Rose, Bella, and Emmett, especially Emmett who I needed to contend with.

"Do you think they will be excited?" Fi asked softly, I lifted her hand and kissed it gently

"Of course they will, I mean, it's going to get pretty scary…very scary."

Fi gave a shudder

"How scary?" she asked

I thought this over, trying to decide the best example, but I couldn't find a comparison, to me in regards to my sisters and how scary they can get, there is no contest, they win every time. I knew everyone would be excited, but

"Ask Bella…trust me they mean well, but that doesn't minimalize how scary they can be, Alice and Rose at least." I paused and chuckled "and Emmett will be sweeping you up in a big bear hug." I added.

Fi thought this over, but she seemed content with it

"I'm pretty quick," she explained "I can avoid him,"

"Good luck with that," I paused as a thought hit me…we were about to tell my family, now our family that we were engaged. But I had had forgotten to do something my human father told me I needed to do before I proposed. I must have been about six and my father was doing his version of cleaning his office, which in actuality was literally him moving books from one shelf to another so my mother would think he had made an attempt. This was long before we moved to London and were still living in the same little village my father had grown up in. I had been walking by his office, possibly on my way to get a biscuit or a glass of milk from the kitchen when I heard a thud. My father in an attempt to move one particular book, had dropped said book on his foot and was in the process of hopping about.

When he spotted me he had smiled and ushered me into his office.

"What is that book da?" I had asked and he chuckled

"It's yer mother and I's wedding album," he replied "it's like she knows I'm no' really cleaning and sent the album after me."

"Mummy has magical powers?"

"No Christian, jus' saying no matter how many times I move this book, it always manages to land on me feet…or head in some cases." He sat down on a chair and pulled me into his lap with the book. The first image I recognized from my maternal grandparent's parlor, I saw my father and my grandparents, but didn't see my mother. I remember scanning the photograph intently, looking for her

"Where's mum?" I asked and I remember my father chuckling

"She wasn't there, this was the night I asked your grandparents permission." My father took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eye, to a six year old this was serious business when your father looks at you like that, and I remember feeling so grown up that my father was talking to me man to man. "When you find the girl you wan' to spend the rest of yer life with Chris, doesn't matter how sure you are, you always, always talk to her parents firs', especially her father."

"Chris?" Fi's voice joined my father's and for a quick second I was a little confused "Chris are you okay?"

I shook my head, pulling myself back to the present day

"Yeah I'm…" I paused "oh bloody hell no I'm not." I added and Fi looked at me, genuinely confused

"You're…not?" she asked putting a hand on my arm "what's the matter?"

"I did something stupid. In all the nerves and all the excitement leading up to this I forgot something extremely important."

"What was that?"

"I forgot to ask Liam and Siobhan,"

Fi was clearly biting back a giggle

"You mean you forgot ta ask me parents for my hand?" she asked in between the fits of giggles that were threatening to come out

"Laugh all you want, but I'm serious, Liam is going to kill me."

"You really are scared of him aren't you?" she asked, her face turning somewhat serious

"Are you really scared of Emmett?" I asked,

"Well, no…only a little it's mainly his idea of entertainment that really scares me."

"Well, Liam scares me on a level that's a disappointing one. I know he's not a fan of me," Fi started to correct me on that and I raised my hand "just hear me out, I can't tell if it's him just giving me a hard time, him being serious, or him being subconsciously serious, but I'm not one of his favorite Cullens and its because of two deciding factors. My linage is one of them," I reached over and took her hand, kissing it gently "but my interest in you is most decidedly the other."

"Liam is protective of us, but Siobhan and him do like you, they want me to be happy and I know they'll see that this is what I want, this is what will make me happy. To be with you."

"I still should have asked first," I replied, we were closer to the house now and I could hear my family milling about, Edward was at his piano, Nessie was practicing her violin, Emmett and Jasper were playing some kind of racing game on the Xbox…it was now or never.

"We'll have that chance,"

Carlisle was just coming home from the hospital, his car slowly coming up the driveway. He waved when he spotted us and we followed him into the garage as he parked the Mercedes.

"Hello you two, where have you been?" he asked knowingly as he glanced at Fi's hand, trying to keep a serious face.

"Just out for a hike," I replied

"Ah, and does this hike require a post hike family meeting?" Fi looked at me shyly and slowly raised her hand, the limited sun that escaped into the yard reflecting on the diamond. "Guess that answers that question," Carlisle exclaimed, he reached forward and pulled Fi and I into a tight hug "this is wonderful I am so very happy for the both of you." He paused "do you want to tell everyone right away?"

I chuckled

"Considering half of them already know?" I asked and Carlisle smiled and nodded at that "yeah I guess we should huh?"

Fi winced a little, her shyness kicking in, but she nodded and took my hand as if I was keeping her from running away. Fi is like me in so many ways, she definitely hates being the center of attention.

Carlisle went in first to call the family meeting and slowly, Fi and I walked in after him, instead of a typical family meeting, my father didn't have everyone go to the unused dining room, instead everyone found their own spot in the family room, the TV was turned off and aside from the chatter from my siblings, the room was eerily quiet.

"What gives Carlisle?" Emmett asked "is everything okay?"

"Yes Emmett, everything is fine, Chris and Fi are the ones who called this meeting and I thought a less rigid environment would make it easier on them." Carlisle explained as he sat down on the love seat next to Esme. Edward was still at his piano, but had turned around on the bench to face everyone, Nessie after a second of deliberation scurried over to him and joined her father on the piano bench. Bella had taken up residence on one of the ottomans, while Emmett and Rose took over the couch, Alice was sitting on the floor at Jasper's feet while he sat in the squishy easy chair. I took a deep breath as I surveyed my family from around the corner.

"Are you okay with this?" I whispered to Fi and she nodded

"As okay as I'm going to be." She whispered back and I kissed her hand again

"The Squirt Patrol called the meeting? Are they finally getting hitched?" Emmett called out, I know he didn't mean it and he wasn't being serious in the least, but Fi and I exchanged a look and it was all I could do not to slap my forehead. I heard Carlisle clear his throat followed by a clear 'oooff' as Rosalie presumably elbowed her husband in the ribs.

"Chris, Fiona, would you like to join us please?" Carlisle called and timidly the pair of us stepped into the room. Rose's eyes went wide as she spotted the ring on Fi's hand and she realized that Emmett for all his joking actually nailed it and she was ecstatic with happiness.

"Um, right," I said softly I looked over at Esme who gave me an encouraging smile, by now the rest of the family knew what was going on and were just waiting for us to say something. Fi and I exchanged another and I took a deep, calming breath "um, hi guys," I started, feeling my own shyness kicking in "Fi…Fi and I have an announcement to make,"

Fi held up her hand to show the ring

"We're…we're engaged." She said softly, she was trying not to smile, but failing, it was impossible to deny how happy she was you didn't need to be a profiler to see it.

The second those words left her mouth we were surrounded by my family…our family. Emmett literally picked me up in a bear hug and was swinging me around. Alice, Rose, Bella, and Esme were crowded around Fi, while Nessie tried to wiggle in through the crowd to get at either of us. Jasper clapped me on the back as Emmett continued to swing me around and Edward gave me a look that said everything I needed from him

'Congratulations little brother,'

Emmett finally put me down on the floor as everyone began talking at once, wedding plans…an engagement party…the family room was a complete buzz. Fi managed to reach through everyone and grasped my hand tightly, as Esme came over, her face full of emotion and hugged us both tight. No words came from my mother, she didn't need to say anything, her hug said it all.

"Oh this is going to be so much fun!" Alice spoke up to Rose "Rose we get one more wedding to plan!"

"I know Alice isn't it wonderful!"

Fi gave me a look of pure fear and I shrugged, I had warned her.

x-x-x-x

"Ok, this was just a bad idea…I apologize for wasting the trip can we go home now?" I begged my father. Carlisle rolled his eyes at me and chuckled.

It was about a week and a half after I had finally worked up the nerve to propose to Fi, and Carlisle and I were standing outside a little tartan shop in Edinburgh, the sun was safely tucked behind the clouds allowing Carlisle and I to be out in the day.

The previous day the sun had been shining so bright Carlisle had to actually close the curtains in our hotel room because the light was actually making it through the window and turning our skin into two disco balls.

Today however it was a typical overcast day and perfect. However I wasn't having a good time. I was happy to be in Scotland, I always feel rejuvenated when I'm in England or Scotland, but I was starting to regret my kilt idea.

One, Emmett… Two…Jasper… and finally …Three…Emmett. I need say more? Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers, they are the best older brothers a guy could ask for, they look out for me and would do anything to protect me, but me in a kilt is pushing my brothers' limit for not making fun of me.

Edward is the only brother who knows what I will be wearing for the wedding, he has been sworn to secrecy and I trust him to keep that secret. I have been debating though, whether to tell Jasper and Emmett BEFORE the ceremony that way they don't burst out laughing at random points of the ceremony…such as while Fi is walking down the aisle, while we're reciting our vows, so on and so forth. They were just lucky I wasn't making them wear kilts too.

My father was encouraging with my decision and had been more than happy to take me to Scotland to get my kilt. This idea had never even crossed my mind until I was moving some boxes into the loft.

I found a box in my closet that I hadn't seen in a while. Inside the box were pictures, ones that Carlisle had brought home with him from my parent's lawyer's office and one he picked up the last time I was in my human home, one that I hadn't thought to grab, but I was so grateful my father did.

It was my parents wedding photograph. My parents stood side by side, hands held tight and a look of pure love on their faces. My mother's wedding dress was a simple Scottish style, without too much fuss and lace to it. My mother wasn't frugal, but she wasn't showy either, the dress she wore was her it was beautiful and it was my mother's dress easily.

My father's outfit was different, he went all out traditional Scottish and though the photo of course in black and white, I could see the Callaghan tartan easily on his kilt, the markings and the darker hue that marked the dark blue that makes up my clan colours.

His jacket was a dark colour with the traditional Ghillie shirt underneath. On the left breast was the Callaghan crest, the image so small that without my heightened vampire senses I might not have seen it. The sporran, was a black leather with rabbit fur sewn into the leather. I can remember how soft the rabbit fur was when I was a kid and how tough yet smooth the leather was. Also attached to my father's belt hung a short sword in a sheath, but I could see the hilt, the handle, and the pommel of the sword and found myself wondering…why had I never seen that sword before. The kilt I vaguely remember, the sporran I distinctly remember, but I know I would've remembered the sword, but I don't.

Even my father's shoes and hoses were traditional and as I stared at this photograph, the floodgate opened as the memories I remember being dressed in a kilt and paraded around my parent's parlor. I wanted my past to be at my wedding, my parents would be there in spirit if anything.

But now standing in front of the shop I was having second thoughts. Even with Carlisle standing right behind me encouraging me I didn't want to move.

Carlisle cleared his throat

"I don't suppose you'd like to actually go in son."

"You did hear me say this was a bad idea right?"

"I did, I was ignoring it." my father replied "Chris this is your decision, but to be honest I think it was a magnificent idea and if you are truly worried about your brothers I can assure you they will be on their best behavior the entire day."

I took a deep breath and nodded.

The bell to the shop rang loudly as Carlisle pushed open the door and a wiry old man who reminded me of my grandfather came out from behind the counter to greet us.

"Goo' day folks 'ow are ye today?"

"Fine thank you and you?" Carlisle replied.

"Wonderful, what can I do fer you?"

Carlisle patted my shoulder pushing me forward

"my name is Carlisle Cullen, this is my godson Chris, my wife and I adopted him when he was a toddler from Glasgow. His fifteenth birthday was last week and we promised him when he turned fifteen if he wanted to come to Scotland to retrace his roots we would take him."

The old man smiled warmly and held out his hand to me, at first I was hesitant, but a nod from Carlisle let me continue.

"Welcome 'ome youn' man"

"Thank you," I replied carefully shaking the old man's hand

"My name is 'enry, 'enry McDoughahue."

"Christian Cullen, but it was Callaghan before I was adopted."

"Ah a Callaghan, good to meet you Christian." Henry paused "so what is that I can 'elp you folks out with."

"I was hoping to find my family's tartan. I'd like to have a kilt and a sash with my clan colours to bring home with me."

Henry's eyes lit up

"you 'ave come to the right place me boy. Fer a youn' Scot comin' 'ome to trace 'is roots only the very bes'." Henry paused and put an arm around my shoulder "no' many kids are interested nowadays about their roots."

"Chris is very mature for his age." Carlisle explained, we shared a grin

"You 'ave an accent yerself Mr. Cullen." Henry stated rubbing his chin "London am I righ'?" Now Carlisle and I exchanged a look, he's lost more of his accent then I have, after all he's been away from England longer then I have, there's still a hint of his accent and its even more so now that we're both surrounded by our homeland's accent, but for a perfect stranger to pick up on it surprised us.

"Why, yes as a matter of fact."

"I'll take good care of both of you. Bu' firs' Christian, lemme show you yer family's tartan."

An hour later, after Henry had done my measurements and I had been fitted, I emerged from the fitting room slowly. Carlisle was looking at some of the dresses for one he would bring home to Esme, he looked over when I came out and he smiled with pride.

It felt weird, I'll be honest, I had been six years old last time I had worn a kilt and wearing it now well it was weird everything about it felt weird, weird, but right.

"There be a fine 'ighlander laddie." Henry exclaimed "in the pas' you'd be ready fer battle."

I glanced over at Carlisle who chuckled.

"Chris you look fantastic." Carlisle complimented "Henry we can't thank you enough." I swear if my body still could I would be turning red with pride and embarrassment.

"Twas my pleasure. The past is dyin' out, no' to many of todays youth want to know their pas', their 'istory, mos' cannae speak even a word of Gaelic, tis all Anglish. A youn' man like yer son 'ere is the reason I keep this shop in business." Henry winked at me "now laddie do you wan' to wear it ou' or should I box it up fer you?"

"I'd rather have it boxed up please. I don't want anything to happen to it before I get it home."

"Yes sir." Henry replied smiling, he gestured for me to follow so I could change back into my normal clothes and the kilt was boxed up carefully.

Carlisle paid for the entire set as well as the dress he (with my help) picked out for Esme. I picked out a sash for Fi that had the Callaghan tartan. Like my father had done at his own wedding, I had plans for it.

Just as we were leaving after thanking Henry profusely. He stopped us at the door and handed me a small box. When I opened it, sitting inside was the proper pin to attach my sash to my kilt, it wasn't just any pin however, it was the Callaghan crest, my crest.

"Thank you…" I said softly, stunned by the gift "but I can't accept this without paying for it."

"Aye you can Christian, this is free of charge. Do you wan' to know why?" I nodded "any child who wants to spend 'is fifteenth birthday tracin' 'is roots is a special and deserving youn' man. No' a child a man and I am givin' you yer cres' fer free as a thank you fer keepin' an old man's faith in the pas' alive." I hesitated only for a second, but held out my hand to Henry. Instead of shaking my hand, he took hold of my wrist "this is 'ow a 'iglander shakes another's 'and Christian." He took my fingers and molded them to grasp his own wrist. "Got it?"

"Yes sir." I replied grinning, remembering faintly my father doing that and teaching me this same thing.

We bid goodbye to Henry and carrying our purchases made our way out the door and down the cobblestone street back to our hotel. We would be flying home the following day and were going to spend the rest of the day sightseeing we had about an hour maybe two of the overcast daylight.

We were about a mile from the hotel when a voice rang out in the streets. We ignored it at first, despite its small size, Edinburgh is above all things, still a city. But when the shout became more insistent and clearer, it make us stop in our tracks.

"Christian? Christian is that you!?" I exchanged a look with Carlisle, no one should know me, especially not here. Everyone I had known before becoming a vampire was either dead or in London, no one here in Edinburgh should know me we're hours from where my family lived, and even in the ones in London would be on their last bit of life to begin with.

I could hear determined footsteps on the cobblestone coming up behind us, footsteps marred with a cane and the shuffling of an old lady, whose strong perfume pierced my sensitive nose.

Carlisle carefully glanced behind us as the shuffler came closer. It **was** an old woman, late seventies, maybe early eighties. She looked familiar but I couldn't place why.

"Carlisle?" I whispered

"Coincidence?" My father replied, there was no surety in his voice. The woman had caught up to us. We tried to keep walking, but moving any faster would have aroused suspicion and for a lady with a cane and a shuffle, she moved pretty quick.

She grabbed my shirt sleeve and turned me around.

"Christian!" she exclaimed "my word it IS you!"

Helplessly I looked at Carlisle who was speechless for just a moment, he regained his composure quickly though and replied.

"Ma'am you must be mistaken."

"Christian, don't you remember me? It's Lucy, your cousin."

My mind flashed the memory. Lucy of course…my youngest cousin, she had been eight when I "died" and just about six nearly seven the last time I had seen her, how could she possibly remember me and for another thing how did she recognize me, especially after all these years?

"I am so sorry!" a younger woman came rushing through the crowd and put her hand on Lucy's shoulder "she's a little senile, Alzheimer's." She explained "granny this couldn't possibly be Christian. This is a little kid."

"I'm telling you this is my cousin Christian Callaghan. Chrissy don't you remember me?" the memories hit me harder, she had been the only one in the family who called me that…she couldn't pronounce Christian when she was a toddler and had added sy to everyone's name, I mean she called my mum 'Auntie Beccsy' for the longest time. All the times Rose has called me Chrissy it always struck a cord with me, but I couldn't remember why and I allowed her to continue with the nickname, now I knew why it gave me chills.

"Ok, granny I will admit there is a resemblance, but sweetie, it's impossible. Christian has been dead for a long time and even if he wasn't, he would be nearly ninety, does this boy look ninety to you?" The younger woman looked at us again "I am so sorry."

"Its not a problem." Carlisle replied "I'm a doctor back in the States, I understand the difficulties with Alzheimer patience. It's never a dignified disease, mistakes happen."

"I'm not entirely sure why out of the blue she is remembering her cousin."

"Close cousin?"

"Not exceptionally."

 _Liar_ I thought I may not have seen my cousins as much as I would have liked, but we were close, all of us. I was the oldest of the Callaghan kids, I looked out for my younger cousins, writing to them and visiting before the war broke out and sending out post to them as often as possible during it.

Even the week before I "died" I had sent a package to Lucy's older brother 9 year old Greg with a letter and a piece of shrapnel I had found. Being as far north as they were, he didn't have the opportunity to collect any bits and had asked me to send him what I could.

"Christian Callaghan was her older cousin. He went missing during the Second World War and presumed to have been killed during the Blitz in London. His body was never recovered so the family held out hope that he would return home someday. He was only thirteen when he went missing."

Again I exchanged a look with Carlisle who raised an eyebrow indiscreetly, I noticed that she used missing, not killed.

"I read about the Blitz in school." I spoke up, completely masking my always present English accent, adopting it to be as American as possible.

"Our family lost a lot during that first few years of that war. First Christian, then his father my great-great Uncle Thomas who was a medic was killed in action a month or so after his son, then my great-great Aunt Rebecca simply gave up on life and passed away. The family farm was nearly lost as well and would have except for a turnaround in our luck." Lucy's granddaughter…I guess that would make her my third cousin replied. "It was a tough time for any child to grow up and it was especially hard on Granny." She paused "I've seen pictures of Christian, I can see how she would make the mistake," she looked at Carlisle "your son does resemble him, somewhat. Of course the only picture I've ever seen of Christian was taken when he was about ten." She laughed as Lucy scowled.

Though my little cousin had grown into an old lady, it was amusing to see that her pouty face or the Lucy Goosy pout as my mother and aunt called it had not grown out of her. I knew I should just let this be, but my curiosity had been irked and Esme has always said it, my curiosity is enough to kill ten cats ten times over.

"Did they ever find out what happen to him?" I asked

"Well, that's where the 'turn around in our luck happened. According to family lore, out of the blue my great-great uncle's lawyer showed up on the farm, a week before my great grandparents were about to lose it and less than a year after Christian went missing. He said that they were inheriting Thomas and Rebecca Callaghan's entire estate, worth about 400,000 pounds. According to the will, Christian would have inherited the money and since there was no physical proof he was dead, the lawyer's hands were tied. My great grandparents wouldn't have inherited anything until 1944 when Christian would have turned 18, if he wasn't present to sign the will, the inheritance would pass to Thomas Callaghan's brother. So the lawyer shows up with the news, no explanation as to how the will was signed over to my great grandparents or who signed it. He had been sworn to secrecy apparently and had even signed a confidentiality agreement."

"Sounds like a lucky break." I replied, fighting my grin. I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see my uncle and aunt's reaction to the lawyer and his news.

"It sounds like it was proof to your family that Christian was alive." Carlisle added.

"It actually divided the family, sort of. There were a few, James my great-grandfather, believed that it was proof that Christian was dead, so did Greg and Nathan, Granny's older brothers. But for some reason, Granny, her sister Livia, the oldest brother Billy, and their mother all believed it was proof that Christian was alive and had been taken in somewhere and would return home after the war was over. Of course the end of the war came and went and there was no sign of him. But they never lost hope. I think that's why Granny has been so insistent."

"So this happens quite often?" Carlisle asked

"Once in a while, she seems to be fixated on the 1940s, usually she gives me a warning of some sort. This time she saw your son and thought he was Christian. Oh, I am so sorry for blabbering like this and holding you up."

"Its not a problem, we were just sightseeing anyways."

"my name is Lizzy,"

"Carlisle, Carlisle Cullen and my son," I saw Carlisle pause, he's always pretty good at thinking on his feet "Emmett." I chuckled under my breath, "we're here for a few days and were just getting some souvenirs to bring home to the family."

"Where in the states are you from?"

"Washington State, just near the Canadian border."

"I actually studied in the states, at UCLA. It is a beautiful country."

"Not like this." I replied looking around and Carlisle elbowed me gently.

"Lizzy, sweetheart, I'm telling you this is Christian." Lizzy sighed as Lucy started up again, it was encouraging to see that not only had her Lucy Goosey Pout stayed with her, but her determination as well. "I know my cousin!" she said louder than before

"I apologize for the mistake Ma'am." Carlisle started "but my **son** and I should be going."

I noticed Carlisle's emphasis on son.

"It is not a mistake young man." Lucy declared, more insistent then before, Lizzy was hiding her head, mumbling. "and I am not as senile as my granddaughter thinks."

Carlisle sighed and nodded at Lizzy our goodbye. Lizzy pried Lucy's hands back as she grasped at my jacket trying to get a hold of me. We didn't look back as we hurried at human pace back to our hotel, hoping that Lucy wasn't following us.

Inside the hotel room I flopped onto one of the beds sighing with relief. Carlisle folded into the chair beside the window.

"Bloody hell." I muttered and for once Carlisle didn't reprimand me for my language, mainly because I think he was feeling the same way.

"What are the odds. Coming back here ten years after the fact was a bigger risk. I was sure someone would recognize you then, but nothing…now seventy odd years later the one city we happen to be we find a relative."

"Luckily she's stricken with Alzheimer." I replied "I mean if she was complete sharp her granddaughter might have been suspicious." I paused "I'm sorry Carlisle."

My father looked at me quickly

"Christian this was not your fault, why are you apologizing?"

"I should've been more thorough keeping tabs on my family here, especially if we were to be visiting. If I had I would have realized that one of my family was still alive. I was taking the chance that all those who remembered me were dead or moved on, I knew Lucy was still alive and Bill, but I never expected Lucy at least to remember me." Carlisle sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"It was a chance, it has always been a chance. No amount of research could have prevented something like this. Even if we had known one of your relatives close relatives was still alive, we would have had a chance of encountering them and it was a large coincidence that your cousin was here."

"What I don't get is how she remembered me. I mean yeah we were all close as kids, but Carlisle she was six nearly seven years old when I last saw her, even if there were pictures of me in the house, there were none that were recent. The last picture my parents had sent to my relatives I had been nine or ten." I paused "and if she does have Alzheimer's shouldn't she be more focused on everyday things as opposed to things that were a long, long time ago? Remembering a cousin who died seventy years ago, isnt that a little odd? And uncharacteristic of the disease?"

Carlisle thought this over for a second and shook his head.

"Its not odd to be honest. In fact it fits in with the disease rather well."

"How so?"

"Well, its typical of Alzheimer's patients to remember the past more than the present in the later stages of the disease."

"Really?"

"I've seen it many times. I was treating a man with the disease about ten years ago. His kids, grandkids, and even a couple of great grandkids came to visit him every day. He was always surrounded by family which was good to see. As he became sicker, he wouldn't recognize any of them, except to call certain ones names that meant nothing to them. Apparently he was recognizing his grandkids and great grandkids as his brothers and sisters who had all passed away. They shared a resemblance to their relatives and the man would carry on full conversations with them as if they were all living in 1900."

"Do you think that's what Lucy's granddaughter will think?"

"Yes. Especially as she mentioned she's seen pictures of you, but only of you when you were ten so she will see the resemblance, but attribute it to your cousin seeing a boy who looked like her older cousin and assuming that it was him."

"That's a relief." I replied sighing "when she called my name I thought I was hearing things, then when she grabbed my coat I thought I was going to have a panic attack." I paused and looked at my father "did you really have my parent's lawyer sign some sort of confidentiality agreement?" I asked with a chuckle.

"As a matter of fact, yes I did." Carlisle replied also chuckling "it was necessary. One little mention of why your aunt and uncle received the inheritance so early, inquiries may have been made and who knows what would have come from it." I nodded and laid down flat on the bed, my hands behind my head. "Christian? Son are you ok?"

"I…you know I had myself prepared for what I would do if I met up with one of my family. What I would say, how I would react. I played different scenarios over and over in my head. But…seeing Lucy, made me forget everything. I saw my little cousin in the old woman in front of me and I wanted to admit to everything, to apologize and pump her for details about my family, what happened to everyone after I "died" stuff like that. When Rose, Emmett, and I were here a few years ago and I looked at the headstones, Livia, Lucy's older sister had died when she was only 18, I wanted to find out what happened to her, how she died so young." I looked over at Carlisle who was nodding, his face full of sympathy and encouragement. "Am I in the wrong for that?"

"No Chris, those are perfectly normal feelings. It is not easy to leave behind the past and it's even more difficult when the past comes back to you, even briefly. Today was difficult for you, and you handled it well."

"I may have handled it well, but now I just want one thing."

"And what's that?"

"To go home."

Carlisle chuckled

"As do I." he replied, hugging my shoulders.

x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Hey guys sorry for the delay! You wouldn't believe how out straight I've been and how many times I rewrote parts of this chapter to make sure it sounded right. I do have a favor to ask my readers, would anyone be willing to help me out with the next chapter? It will be basically from Fi's POV with her wedding dress and the girls "helping" but I am for some reason having a hard time putting myself in Fi's mindset to write a chapter from her perspective, I have a later one that worked out perfectly, but no matter how many times I try I'm struggling with this upcoming chapter. Full credit will be given to anyone who helps and I can send you what I do have written to kind of give you a jumping off place. Please PM me and let me know if you can help!


	7. Chapter 7

x-x-x-x

As the night wore on, I couldn't help but pace around our hotel room, our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until mid afternoon but I had so much on my mind that pacing was the only thing that kept me calm. When Carlisle left the hotel room early the next morning to get the paper, I finally figured out an outlet for my pacing, I went online and checked flights, namely flights to Ireland.

When Carlisle came back, a stack of papers in hand I was already looking up flights from Edinburgh to Dublin.

Carlisle looked from me, to the computer and back at me with a look on his face that clearly said 'I'm not sure I want to know'

"Dad," I said carefully "do we need to be back in Forks by tomorrow?" I asked, Carlisle dropped the newspaper stack gently on one of the unused queen beds, nearest the door and rubbed his chin thinking this over.

"No, not exactly I wasn't sure what time frame we would be really looking at so I took a few extra days off. Why do you ask?"

"How difficult do you think it will be to find Liam, Siobhan, and Maggie?"

Carlisle pondered my question for a moment before smiling a somewhat confused smile

"No, it shouldn't be too difficult to find them, they may be nomads, but Liam prefers to stay roughly in the same area at certain times during the year."

"Like geese?" I asked and Carlisle rolled his eyes chuckling a little

"Careful kiddo, that's your future father-in- law,"

I sighed wincing at the idea, I was still not used to the fact that I was engaged

"Don't remind me," I muttered

x-x-x-x-x

Carlisle managed to find a flight that was leaving Edinburgh an hour before our flight home was supposed to go, we landed in Dublin in midafternoon early evening and the sky was overcast and typical Irish weather, cloudy no worry of attracting the sun.. We rented a car and begin the 2 hour drive north. I have been to Ireland once in my life and I was eight years old at the time. My father had a medical conference in Belfast and my mother had gone to France to visit her sister for a sisters' weekend. I remember it was dreary and everyone stared at my father and I as we walked from our hotel to the conference, watching us like we were the enemy.

It was definitely a different feel nowadays, but I still felt uneasy, but that could have been approaching Liam and Siobhan AFTER I had already proposed to Fi, what if they asked when I planned on proposing, I wasn't entirely sure I could lie in that case.

As we drove through the countryside heading to the Irish Clan's usual location, my stomach was twisting twenty different ways something I didn't expect it to be able to do and it reached the point where Carlisle finally pulled the car off to the side and looked at me expectantly.

"Are we there?" I asked and he shook his head

"No, but I want to know what is making you so nervous Chris, you're literally a wreck here. I know Liam comes across as gruff, but it's all show."

"I know." I muttered "I wanted to do this before I asked Fi…but things just kind of snowballed out of control and before I knew it I was down on one knee."

"Ah," my father said finally understanding where I was coming from "I take it you feel you should have asked Liam and Siobhan for their permission before you proposed to Fi?"

"Bingo,"

"I am proud that you thought of that Christian, it is an old fashion notion I suppose, but I do know it is appreciated." He chuckled "After all I have been asked that twice," I stared at my father, that seemed odd to me

"Seriously?" I asked and he nodded

"Yes, both Emmett and Jasper spoke to me away from the family and asked about marriage. It was more of a formality and certainly more of a 'is this appropriate to do' type of formality, but I thought it was honourable to be asked in the first place. And I know Liam and Siobhan will appreciate it as well."

"Even if its after the fact and well basically too late now?"

"No Christian, too late would be you and Fi already being married without their knowledge, this is simply you asking for her hand."

"What if they say no?"

"Why would they say no Chris?" I shrugged "it was not lost on any of us how you Fi are around one another, even Liam saw it. I would expect him to give you a hard time, but it is not out of spite, it is simply out of protection for Fi and in reality, show."

I nodded

"Okay,"

"Feel somewhat better?"

"No, but I'll deal with it, it needs to be done."

x-x-x

A small cottage in the woods served as their home base, a stark difference from most nomads of our kind, but then again more than two in a coven is a rarity in itself. Siobhan must have been the first to sense our approach, because she came outside with a warm smile beaming across her faces. Liam came from around the back looking less than pleased, his expression softened a little when he realized who it was, at least as much as he possibly could. Maggie was the last to emerge and she did so with gusto, as she flew out of the house, a wide grin on her face.

"Chris," she exclaimed "Carlisle, hullo!" She hugged both of us tightly "welcome!"

"Yes friends, welcome," Siobhan greeted, she also hugged us both tight, while Liam gave his usual gruff 'lo,' and a nod. "Is it just the two of you then?" Siobhan asked, looking around. I saw Maggie's shoulders fall a little, she was hoping Fi was with us and who could blame her, she was clearly pleased that her sister had found happiness, but at the same time missed her.

"Yes," Carlisle replied "just a quick trip for Chris and I. We were in Scotland for a few days."

Siobhan accepted this answer and welcomed us inside. The cottage was indeed small and clearly just used for storage, but we all made ourselves comfortable. While Siobhan, Maggie, and Carlisle chatted with small talk Liam and I sat quietly, listening. Well he might have been listening, I personally was going over and over in my mind what I was going to say. It is rare for my mind to be so blank that I can't think of what to say. I'm not saying I always know what to say, but I am by nature a smart ass and I am very proud of my ability to think on my feet with great comebacks. But this was beyond me for some reason I couldn't come up with anything and the words that were coming to mind didn't make sense.

Liam seemed to read my mind, because he kept looking at me expectantly. After a few minutes of this, he finally decided to force my hand, sort of.

"I think the Scot has something ta say," he growled in his usual voice, it was easy to tell that there was no anger or danger, just his typical mannerism, at least for now.

I looked at Carlisle in a desperate attempt for my father to start me off, but I knew it was in vain, this was my task, I couldn't be a kid looking to my father for help on this, I had to man up.

"Liam….Siobhan…" I started "the last few months Fi has been in my life have been the happiest I have felt in a very long time. I know it's an odd concept for our kind and especially given our physical age….but...but I would like to ask you both for permission to marry Fi." I took a deep calming breath and waited for the response, either an explosion or pure joy.

The Irish Clan sat in stunned silence for what felt like hours. And when I say silence I mean silence, no one breathed, no one spoke.

Finally Liam stood up and I studied him carefully, looking for warning signs or reasons to duck. His face was set in its usual stone like expression, but his body language told me another story, he was surprised by my forwardness and the fact that I was asking, but not surprised that I wanted to marry Fi, so I felt no alarm when he exchanged a look with Siobhan before placing a firm hand on my shoulder. Carlisle knows his friend well enough that he wasn't concerned, he was however unsure how I would react, especially knowing how intimidated by Liam I am.

"Lemme have a talk with um," Liam simply said and guided me outside and out of earshot.

I willed my fear to vacate as I did my best to look straight at Liam, the literal idea of 'don't let him know you're afraid.' A few seconds ticked by before Liam finally sighed rubbing his chin.

"So," I said, unsure if I should initiate the conversation

"I suppose this means I'm stuck with ye ain't I?" he grumbled, but there was no malice in his town, no disdain in his expression. All I could do was shrug. "A Scot, an English Scot no less, tha' is jus' my luck." he paused for a second before continuing "I didn't know what to make of you two, but tis no denying you're good for one another. Jus' know this Christian...you're not my firs' choice fer a son-in-law," I felt my shoulders drop a bit "but you're the righ' choice for Fiona, there isn't anyone else I'd rather her be with 'cause I know you'll always be there for her, care for her, and respect her, you were raised right boyo, on both sides. I've seen it with me own eyes and who knows, maybe someday you'll grow on me."

I stared at Liam, dumbfounded, that had almost sounded like an understanding had been reached between Liam and I. It was almost...fatherly of him.

"I promise," I assured him "she'll be safe with me, happy and safe."

"She better be boyo," Liam growled "ever seen an Irish temper?"

I shook my head

"I've seen wounded Scottish pride and what comes from that," I explained and Liam nodded, giving almost a slight smile

"Aye, then you and I are on the same page."

"Aye," I replied

We started walking back to the cottage when the door burst open, both Siobhan and Maggie looked concerned, Carlisle had a look between amusement and slight concern.

"Liam?" Siobhan called accusingly

"What?" Liam replied "the Scot and I came to an understanding

"You...did?"

"Aye as long as you agree I say we let them tie the knot."

"You do?"

The exchange between Liam and Siobhan was almost comical, though clearly from Siobhan's perspective she was just stunned.

"Aye," Liam concluded and I quickly profiled Siobhan, she wasn't disagreeing with Liam, but she was shocked he was giving in, Liam of all people.

"Well, then, if that's the case," Siobhan walked over to me and placed her hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye "I suppose we have a wedding to plan."

Fi's POV

A week and a half after Chris proposed, I was still floating somewhere on cloud twenty. I had hoped Christian would propose, but I was still surprised, to me in this life things like that just do not happen. But that happy bubble so to speak was being taken over by Alice and Rosalie; Chris's mum and Bella, well I'm sure they had a hand in most of what was going on. It proved Chris' warning, his sisters were scary.

I knew Rosalie liked to be what Chris called showy, and I knew that Alice tried her best to fulfill all of Rosalie's showiness (is that even a word?) I had seen pictures of Bella's wedding and it was beautiful, so I know I shouldn't be worried about Chris's sisters handling my wedding because regardless they will not let it be anything less than beautiful. But in truth, I don't want anything over the top, I want it small with a few exceptions to that. There were a few things that Chris and I would demand full control over, for one thing we wanted this wedding to be as traditional as possible, we would only do this once so it had to be exactly as we wanted. Our plan was to merge two traditions together that represent where we both come from. Chris has his Scottish and English traditions that he refuses to compromise on and I have certain Irish ones I have to keep as a way to remember my family, ones that I knew Liam and Siobhan would also insist. I wondered if Chris was on going to Ireland after Scotland to find Liam and Siobhan, I know he felt guilty about not asking my family before proposing.

Chris had shown me a photo Carlisle had saved for him of his real parents on their wedding day. Chris's mother was beautiful and his father was a mirror of Chris, they were only nineteen at the time five years older than Chris is permanently stuck at, but their faces are so much alike its easy to see they are father and son.

Chris had asked me if I had any objection to matching his father's attire and to be honest I didn't. I know Chris was nervous about how his brothers would react and I know for a fact he was dreading his sisters opinion, but to Chris he wanted his family brought in, he wanted his past to be present at his wedding, which meant Chris was going to wear a kilt. He was keeping this a secret for the most part. Of course his parents knew, I knew because he asked for my permission to do so, and it was impossible to hide it from Edward, but Chris had pleaded with him to keep quiet.

I sighed and carefully erased my train. I had been trying desperately to get it perfect, I had my own dress in mind, but I wanted to copy my cousin's veil and train. I had been a bridesmaid in her wedding when I was thirteen in 1967 and I loved her entire dress. It was as traditional Irish wedding as you could get and it was gorgeous. Even at thirteen I imagined my own wedding to be the same as my cousin's.

I was sketching the dress upstairs in my room. Alice was downstairs awaiting my dress wish list. Her, Rosalie, Esme, and Bella were planning a trip to some bridal dress store in New York City, but first I had to sketch what I wanted. Once my sketch was done, Alice would use her computer program to make a 3D version of my dress that we could bring to the store and show them what I wanted.

Rosalie and Alice said I was allowed to do this because I had my dress in mind and was allowing my future sisters full access to create my wedding, I was given a lot more freedom, apparently more than Bella was given considering she wanted to just elope.

The floorboards on the steps leading up to my room creaked. I looked up quickly and anticipated the knock on the door.

"Fi? Its Rosalie can I come in?"

"Aye," I replied and turned to face her, she smiled warmly as she came in and pulled up a chair near my desk. She looked over my horrible drawing and studied it carefully "I know tis bad." Rosalie looked at me as if I had just cursed

"Fi this is gorgeous!" she exclaimed

"Come on now Rosalie."

"I wouldn't lie to you, this is going to be a beautiful dress. Where did you come up with the design?"

"My older cousin was married and I was in the wedding party, I was a bridesmaid. This isn't an exact copy of her dress but it's similar."

"This is perfect it is all you."

"Really?" I asked softly

"Really, I think it's perfect the way it is, unless you really want to I wouldn't make any more changes to it." I made a face and she looked at me "Fi what?"

"The train I don't like it, I've been trying to get it right for the past hour and it just won't come out."

"Did you want a long train or a short one?"

"My cousin's was long, but I don't want mine to be." I took the pencil and the paper from Rosalie. Our memory is very precise, but its only memories that occur once we become a vampire are the strongest. The further we get from our human life the less we remember about our human life. Amazingly though memories of my cousins dress came flooding back to me, including her train how it billowed out around her dress. Quickly I sketched what I remembered before it disappeared.

Rosalie smiled and nodded

"Come on Fi, let's see what this looks like in 3D." She finished grabbing my hand and dragged me downstairs.

As we headed down, I wondered how Chris was making out. It felt strange being so far away from him it had only been a few days since him and Dr. Cullen left for Scotland, but I missed my fiancé. But knowing I don't want him to see my dress, I know he doesn't want me to see what exactly what he will be wearing.

x-x-x

My body began shaking the minute the car pulled up in front of the large store. I felt an arm reach around my shoulder and hug me tight. It was Esme, Chris's mum, she smiled at me gently and kissed my forehead.

"It will be fine sweetie." She said softly, I felt a hand slip into mine as Alice comforted me, giving me a reassuring grin.

"Esme's right, you'll be fine. They think we're some multi-billionaire family, they've cleared out the store of customers and unnecessary staff at our request."

"That…that must have been" I started to say, but let my voice trail off. I knew the Cullens were wealthy, they lived as normal humans and with that came access to unlimited funds. I knew that Dr. Cullen was known for being financially well off and his reputation for being so proceeded anyone with a connection to the Cullen clan.

Even so, I felt a little uncomfortable with the situation. For one thing I wasn't sure how the salespeople would take me. I looked about fifteen maybe sixteen tops. Chris's sisters had done their best to make me look older for this visit, according to Alice at least I looked like I was just pushing eighteen, and even that's pushing it. But as I've learned, when you wave money in front of people they will accept anything. It's sad, but true. The other reason for my discomfort was actually nerves. This was the first time I was somewhere with people without Chris. In this environment, I trust his family, who had quickly and easily become my family, but at the same time my nerves were out of control so much I doubted even Jasper could have sorted through them.

As if she sensed my uneasiness, Rose reached into her purse and extracted the original sketch and the printed design for my dress, she held it up to me and used that as a way to ease my worry, helping me focus. Alice had printed out my dress. After I had finished sketching it, Alice had scanned my sketch into her fashion design computer and was actually able to have a 3D image of my dress on screen. She printed it out and brought it with us, hoping that the people at the famous dress shop would have a dress that was as close to my design as possible.

The store was quiet and the staff that was on hand seemed to be hanging back as we entered, save for one woman who greeted us. Her quick examination of the family had her eyes immediately landing on Rose, assuming she was the bride in question.

"Now, may I ask who is they lucky bride?" she asked, her voice was not what I had expected, she was actually gentle and warm, like she really just wanted to help. She was however still looking at Rose expectantly as Rose placed a hand on my shoulder

"My sister, Fiona"

The saleswoman had to do a double take when she spotted me and her suspicion was not lost on any of us.

"You my dear?" she asked, I didn't need Chris' ability to profile to read her reaction, she wasn't sure how to take me, but was too polite to really ask. "You are so young,"

"Believe it or not," Alice spoke up as bubbly as could be "she's nineteen,"

"Are you really?" the saleswoman asked me and I nodded, trying to match Alice's enthusiasm, but I knew that was impossible, but I was able to at least look convincing when I answered, I also made myself sound more American. It was something I practiced many times when I was younger, I dreamed of visiting the United States and walking down the Avenue of Stars in Hollywood, so when I was all by myself in my room, especially as a little kid I would pretend I was doing just that, walking the red carpet into the Chinese Theater, my adoring fans (IE my teddy bears and dolls) cheering me on, asking for autographs, and snapping my picture. But that's beside the point, I know I can pull off an American accent and just hoped I was able to calm myself down enough to try.

"Yes, I promise I am,"

"Everyone always thinks she's younger than she really is," Rose explained

"Well I do apologize for my reaction ladies." The saleswoman replied, recovering her surprise "my name is Karen and it is my job to make sure you find the perfect dress for your perfect day." She paused and looked me over for a moment, smiling "now come with me, family you may follow, now it was Fiona yes?"

"Ye…Yes" I stumbled, I couldn't believe how nervous I was, I'm sure that my heart would have been buzzing at this point and I would have been shaking like a leaf, if any of that could still occur.

Even as a human I was never good with meeting new people, in any circumstances, my mother was convinced I just needed some pushing to get out of my shell and would do all she could to help me with that, she hated when I referred to myself as shy or my father and sister did, she refused to let that be an excuse, the problem was, I was like my dad, quiet, laidback, and shy, while my older sister was more like our mother, outgoing, loved meeting new people, and certainly not shy in the least.

Before the Cullen family my interaction with humans had been very slim and less than pleasant for the human of course, so there was never an opportunity for my shyness to resurface. In this situation however, it easily came back to me…just as easily as holding and playing the violin had. The Cullens did their best to appear human, I knew I had to follow suit which I was eager to do. I was not however thrilled for my old friend to rejoin me, I was hoping that my shyness would have ended when my heart ceased to beat.

Apparently not.

"That is such a beautiful name," Karen spoke up bringing me back to the present "well than Fiona, I want you to do your best to describe a few things to me, now what is your fiancé's name?"

"Christian," I replied, my shyness may have been present, but Karen was easy to speak to and I was beginning to feel somewhat comfortable with her…but I knew it helped that my new family was right there, encouraging me.

"Lovely, and how did you meet?"

I panicked for a quick second, easily remembering the first time I met Chris and how I had felt when I saw him, but that was not only difficult to put into words in a normal sense, but impossible in this instance. I couldn't very well say that that the Vampire World's version of the royal family was coming to lay down judgement on Chris' family and my family had been asked by Carlisle and Esme to act as witnesses regarding Nessie, and Chris and I had met when he returned from gathering his own witnesses.

"M…mutual friends," I finally settled on "we met at a ge…" I paused, no not get together, party, party was the right word "a party for some mutual friends." There, that was pretty close to the truth without revealing too much or lying too much and…that was actually how my sister met her boyfriend, well her fiancé. They met at a mutual friend's birthday party and at sixteen were in love.

"Oh, love at first sight?" Karen swooned a little and I nodded "how special is that," she paused "and when is the special day?"

Chris and I had talked it over several times and had both agreed the Fall was the time for us, we both love the Fall season and both of us could picture how the wedding would be set up for a Fall theme, Chris had even come up with a perfect idea for his niece Nessie's role during the wedding, which I loved.

The exact date hadn't really mattered at first, but as we talked the date that kept coming up as a special number for both of us, for some reason was the fifteenth, so we had agreed that we would be married on October 15th.

When I told Karen the date she was giddy with excitement and I was taken aback for a moment

"Oh a fall wedding, how delightful, I told my husband time and time again, that I wanted to have our wedding not only in the Fall, but in New Hampshire with all the leaves falling around us, have you been to New Hampshire?" I shook my head "oh you must go at some point my dear it is such a beautiful state and in the fall it is pristine with the leaves changing color. So yes…I do believe we have several dresses for that occasion." She paused, noticing the paper in Rose's hand "oh do you have some ideas in mind?"

"Sort of," I spoke up "I s…sketched this out earlier and my sister has a program on her computer to…" my voice trailed off the whole family had been taking turns teaching me computers and such, but I was still unsure of what things were called, so I wasn't entirely sure what Alice had done to turn my sketch 3D,

"Oh this is beautifully designed, and you sketched this yourself?" Karen asked and I nodded shyly "You have a talent young lady perhaps a career in fashion may be in your future." Before I could answer, Karen brought me towards the back of the shop, she gestured for my future family to make themselves comfortable on the couches and sofas while she escorted me into a large dressing room. "Now I'll go pull some items that are very close to this design, you make yourself comfortable please."

I watched as Karen left the dressing room and the moment she was gone I took a deep calming breath, I felt like I hadn't breathed since walking into the store. I wasn't feeling thirsty or anything, my nerves were too strong for that to impact me. I couldn't believe I was actually doing this, I was actually standing in a bridal shop in New York City of all places about to try on wedding dresses, while my fiancé was somewhere in England with his own wedding agenda.

I laughed quietly to myself at the word…fiancé, I was engaged, engaged to the sweetest, funniest, and most perfect match. His family had accepted me quickly as one of their own and in turn I had accepted their way of life easily. Did I miss Siobhan, Liam, and Maggie? Of course, I also felt a twinge of pity…maybe guilt regarding my sister Maggie, after all I was not only younger than her in every sense of the word, but I was shyer as well. Why should I be lucky enough to find my one while my sister who has been in this life longer is still searching?

The door opening startled me a little, granted I should have sensed her coming, but I was so deep in though I didn't hear or smell Karen walking down the hall, nor did I hear the swooshing noise of the dresses she had carefully laid in her arms.

"Now, please don't take offense Fiona," Karen explained "but you are such a petit little thing that these dresses are going to be slightly large on you, however I promise our alteration department is the best in the world and will have no problem fitting these to you. I promise whichever dress you pick will be perfect for you on your perfect day."

x-x-x

Chris

"Ok, well how about this one?" I pressed play on my ipod as yet another song blasted out of my speakers, this time it was Aerosmith's _Don't want to miss a thing_ , it's a good song, but I wasn't sure it would be a good first dance song…or if Fi would agree, however Fi made that decision with a face as she shook her head, "we should just play _another one bites the dust_ that seems to be the direction we're heading." I sighed "that's what the fiftieth song?"

"Who would have ever thought that the most difficult thing we would do with this wedding was pick out our first dance." Fi replied

"I don't know getting up the nerves to talk to Liam was pretty difficult on my part," I shot back and Fi gave me a gentle shove

"Oh I'm sure it was not that bad,"

"Right, keep telling yourself that. He still terrifies me." I paused and grinned "and how was dress shopping with my sisters?"

"It was fun," Fi answered smartly and I gave her a look "okay it was a little nerve-wracking." She paused "but not because of your sisters. You are just chicken when it comes to them."

"For good reason," I nodded towards my closet "more than ninety percent of the clothes that are in that closet were forced on me by my sisters. Trust me they're terrifying."

"To you maybe. I was more nervous about the saleslady at the store, but even she was nice and made it less intimidating."

I nodded, figuring she probably won that round. I know it couldn't have been easy to go to one of the biggest cities in the world and go shopping. Not that I have any doubt about Fi's control, more along the lines of Fi's panic threshold. But from what I've heard from her and from my sisters and Esme, she not only did fine, but she actually came out of her shell with the whole thing.

"Do you think all couples have this problem?" I whispered. Fi giggled and leaned over to kiss my cheek. It was about two months after our separate trips. My kilt was hung up and ready to go safely in Esme's closet, while Fi's wedding dress which her and Rose flew to New York to pick up was stored in Bella's closet in the cottage.

We had been slowly moving through most of the aspects of our wedding, which was fast approaching, and I felt pretty confident that we were in good shape, but one particular piece was driving us both mad and it really should have been one of the simpler decisions; the song for our first dance.

We had both agreed to go as traditional as possible with this wedding and the first dance was an important part, we just couldn't figure out the bloody song and we were running out of options.

"I'll bet most do," she paused and got this laughing look in her eyes "but I find it hard to believe that Rosalie and Emmett had this much trouble, there couldn't have been many choices for them way back then."

"Hey are you calling them old?" Fi ducked her head a little "because you're not far off," I added and the pair of us burst out laughing. I took a deep breath as our laughter faded out, "but on a serious note, most couples probably don't have this much trouble. I mean typically don't they pick the song that means the most to them?"

Fi shrugged

"I suppose, so what song means the most to us?" she asked her voice serious and all trace of humour gone.

"That's the thing I don't know, we're not a typical couple, we didn't meet in high school or college or at some party. I think and I may be wrong on this, but I think most people pick a song that had some significance to either when they met or what was going on when they met." I sighed and pushed my bangs back "we don't have that." Fi's shoulders dropped a little, "but that's not to say we don't have a song, it's just going to take a little investigating to find it, like a mystery."

Fi nodded

"I suppose we really need to figure this madness out. The wedding is in less than three weeks."

"Yeah, an' if we don't pick something, Edward will do it for us and believe me I do not want to our firs' dance to be one of his ruddy classical pieces."

"Speaking of a shortened time period." I raised an eyebrow "Maggie still doesn't know that she's paired with Seth."

"Bloody hell." I muttered "I think waiting till the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding is probably a bad idea."

"Aye," Fi answered

"Ok, one crisis at a time." I lifted the lid to my laptop and went online

"What are you doing?"

"Googling wedding songs."

"Tsk tsk." I heard from the stairway, Alice, Rosalie, and Bella stood there, with grins on their faces that could only be described as plotting "so young and so naïve." Alice said as sweetly as she could

"What do you want girls?" I asked

"Christian, Christian, Christian. We've known the perfect song for you two since day one." Rosalie replied, producing a CD from her pocket. I exchanged a look with Fi and both of us mouthed 'uh oh' and grinned.

Rosalie popped the CD in and pressed play. The song that came from the speakers had me glaring at my sisters for a second or so, its beat was reminiscent of the 90s when I had been subjected to N-sync, Backstreetboys, etc. But then the lyrics started and I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was like the moment I had first seen Fi had been written into a song, like this song was written for us:

 _Maybe its intuition, some things you just you just don't question, like in your eyes I see my future in an instant and there it goes, I think found my best friend, I know it may sound more then a little crazy, but I believe, I knew I loved you before I met you, I think I dreamed you into life. I knew I loved you before I met you I have been waiting all my life._

 _There's just no rhyme or reason, only the sense of completion, and in your eyes I see the missing pieces searching for I think I found my way home._

 _I know it may sound more then a little crazy, but I believe, I knew I loved you before I met you, I think I dreamed you into life I knew I loved you before I met you I have been waiting all my life._

 _I found some angels dance around you I am complete now that I found you. I knew I loved you before I met you, I think I dreamed you into life I knew I loved you before I met you I have been waiting all my life._

I stared at the radio, dumbfounded as the song faded off. I heard my sisters giggle and felt Fi's hand slip into mine, her eyes were sparkling and she nodded, squeezing my hand, I gave her a nod as well, no words were necessary, we easily agreed on the song, it was perfect.

"Well?" Bella asked

"Guys…this is…I don't know what to say…" I stuttered. The girls looked at each other and grinned victoriously

"I think we have finally left our brother speechless." Alice sang

"Had to happen eventually. Only took sixty plus years." Rosalie added. Bella wandered over to my desk and picked up a CD

"What is with the folk music?" she asked gently, holding the CD up and I grinned,

"That's for our Caili dance," I explained I stood up and held out my hand to Fi pulling her to her feet.

"Caili dance?" Bella asked a look of confusion on her face, she looked at Rosalie and Alice for an explanation but the pair of them seemed just as dumbfounded.

"It's a traditional dance in both Ireland and Scotland." I replied kissing Fi's hand, before walking over to Bella and taking the CD. I put it in my CD player and went to the correct track.

"One of the few traditions that transcends both Ireland and Scotland with ease." Fi added

"it's a tradition to dance a clans dance, especially if its two separate clans coming together as one with a marriage. For Fi and I its not just two clans coming together, its two different times, different cultures, different ethnicity, even a different language when you really think about it. Our two dances are very different, yet similar in step and music." I shuffled a bit, as the music came on, a slow Celtic jig with the hint of a violin and a piano just started to hit its chords. "You start out separate, dancing your own style as the song begins, then you get closer and closer to each other as the song continues, blending together slowly…and"

"by the height of the song." Fi continued, she reached out and we put our hands together, palm to palm slowly dancing in a circle, never once letting go

"You're together, as it should be. Together as one, with different histories, different families, different clans, bu' now as one."

Fi and I leaned close, and kissed

"one family, one clan…" she finished as we hugged each other tight. "It's our traditional piece," Fi grinned "with a surprise."

"What surprise?" my sisters all asked at once, but Fi and I pretended we couldn't hear them, it was a surprise that only two other people in the family knew about and I planned on keeping it that way until the wedding.

x-x-x-x


	8. Chapter 8

A/N:

I've had this chapter written (not in its entirety) for a long time. I did a lot of research to make sure everything about this moment a lot of you have been waiting for is as realistic and faithful to the traditions as possible. I am very proud of this chapter and hope all of you can see the scenes playing out as easily as I can in my imagination. Enjoy everyone!

x-x-x-x

I took a deep breath and felt a hand pat my shoulder gently. Emmett, whose face was usually twisted in a large maniacal grin was smiling gently now.

"You'll be fine kid." He whispered "and just for the record, the skirt, doesn't look half bad."

I groaned, but chuckled too.

For Emmett regarding my kilt, that comment was a compliment, one which I accepted, he was just thankful I didn't make my groomsmen were kilts too, but I was nice and let them go with regular tuxes.

"Were you this nervous you're first wedding?" I asked my brother, he glanced over at Jasper and Edward who were listening

"Terrified, we all were Chris, even to this day when Rose and I renew our vows in another ceremony I feel the same way I did the first time, trust me it's a good thing."

"Chris let me ask you, do you love Fi?" Jasper asked in a serious tone.

"Of course!" I exclaimed

"Then this is just for show, this is to show everyone that you love her. You do not need to be nervous because this is not for you or for Fi its for friends and family, by asking for Fi's hand you two are already married, you are one now, belonging to one another. Alice and I did not need to exchange wedding vows or rings to express our love for one another, nor did Emmett and Rosalie, or Carlisle and Esme-"

"And I certainly did not need a ceremony to prove that Bella and I belonged together." Edward added

"Its for tradition more than anything else Chris." Emmett finished

"Exactly, I do not need a ceremony to know that I love Tia, I know you don't need this to prove to yourself your love for Fi." Ben added

"Yeah Chris, I may have never gotten married before, but they're right." Seth spoke up punching me lightly in the shoulder "you're not alone with this, you've got your best friends and brothers here backing you up."

That was certainly true, as well as my brothers and Seth, my werewolf best friend, there was also Benjamin, my newest pal.

The wedding party at least in my opinion was pretty big because of how many people were involved. Four groomsmen on my side, plus my best man meant four bridesmaids and one maid of honor on Fi's side.

The guests were filing into the canopy that we had rigged up. In accordance to Celtic tradition, the wedding ceremony would be outside, and the trees turning in the fall weather were bent carefully to create the canopy.

I was surprised to see Bella's dad come down the aisle, with Seth's mom Sue on his arm. He gave me a quick wave before he and Sue took their seats. I glanced over at Seth who grinned and shrugged.

As the last guest took their seat I took one last deep breath before heading down the aisle to the entrance of the canopy Seth following me.

Carlisle hugged my shoulders as he passed, it would be my responsibility to escort my mother to her seat, Seth as my best man, would escort Siobhan, technically Fi's mother right behind Esme and I.

Glancing towards the house I could hear giggling of my sisters and wondered if Fi was as nervous as I was. Esme reached forward and hugged me tight, before checking me over, making sure everything was in its place.

I had never felt so connected to my heritage then I did in that moment. The short sword was sheathed on my hip and tapped against my bare legs as I walked, where Carlisle found an exact replica of my father's wedding sword I hadn't asked.

Esme straightened my bangs one last time as I held out my arm for her. I could feel Seth's nerves as he did the same with Siobhan. She smiled gently at him trying to ease his nerves, I'm not sure what he was more nervous about, escorting Fi's "mum" and tripping or escorting a vampire.

Whatever he was nervous about, faded as we stepped into the canopy in line, Seth right behind me. At the end of the aisle, right before the altar I took Esme to the right, Seth went left as we helped the two mums to their seats, before rejoining my brothers at the altar.

I couldn't have asked for more people, a good portion of the wolf-pack was here including Sam, his wife Emily, Brady and Collin and Jacob's friends even Seth's sister Leah had come, on the Cullen side as well as the Denali clan, and many of our other friends, even Jasper's friends Peter and Charlotte had come. There were a few humans, Chief Swan, Sue Clearwater, and Mr. Black. Jacob sat next to his father, but at an angle where Nessie could see him, the Irish Coven side was equally packed with other friends and family.

The crowd went hush as music began playing. Fi had done a lot of research on music, playing thousands of songs to find the perfect one. She didn't want a traditional wedding march and instead went hunting. What she found was perfect for her and for the theme of the wedding. It was an old song sung by new talent. Its called Walking in the Air and is a very haunting, but admittedly cool song redone by this Celtic group called Celtic Woman, yeah original name I know, but they've got pretty good voices and the song was a good match.

Everyone turned around in their chairs to get a good view. First Tia came in, followed by Bella, Rosalie, Alice, and finally Maggie all walking step by step smiling as they did so. All of them looked beautiful, and it made me curious as to Fi's dress.

Then Nessie came, she was acting as both flower girl and ring bearer and seemed very pleased with her role, the rings were attached securely to the basket. We decided to have her drop fall colored leaves instead of flower petals, it fit the theme better and it fit Fi and I better. She carefully placed each leaf on the silk path way taking her time as everyone chuckled. When she reached the end of the aisle she ran up to me and hugged me around the waist.

"did I do good Uncle Chris?" she asked

"Perfect Nessie girl, we couldn't have picked anyone better for the job." I replied, I resisted the urge to ruffle her hair, mainly because I knew if I did I might not live to see my reception, courtesy of my sisters.

She giggled, Bella reached out and Nessie skipped over to her mum hugging her tight and giggling some more.

I took another deep breath as everyone stood up to face the back. I closed my eyes for a second as everyone began gasping, I opened one eye then the other as Fi walked in, escorted by Liam.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Fi

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I didn't think it was possible, but my stomach was twisting in a knot as each of my bridesmaids walked under the canopy towards the altar and as Nessie went through, the knot tightened.

Liam looked over at me and tapped my nose

"Fiona me girl, you're not nervous are you?"

"A little bit Liam." I answered honestly

"You'll be fine my wee lass, Chris is a fine lad, for a Scot that is,"

"Liam," I chided giggling

"Ach dontcha take it personal me girl, I be' he's jus' as nervous as you are." He kissed my cheek gently "ye ready?"

I took a deep breath and counted to three.

"Aye, I am."

Liam pulled my arm into the crook of his and we started down the aisle. With everyone standing up I couldn't see Chris, I tightened my grip on Liam's arm and he smiled at me again.

My friends and family and Chris's friends and family lined the aisle, a photographer was snapping as we walked, but I wasn't paying attention to him, nor to everyone watching, I kept my eyes ahead of me, waiting for the sea of guests to part to see Chris.

I took a deep breath as we got closer, Chris's parents gave me a comforting smile, then I saw Siobhan, then… there was Chris. Liam was right, he looked just as scared as I did, but like me, I saw him relax a bit, he gave me a half smile that I have fallen in love with, his blue eyes sparkling.

He looked handsome in the kilt, he really did like his father, he even had a small short sword hanging off his hip. He looked like a mini highlander warrior, and I'm sure his brothers had already pointed that out.

We reached the altar and the awed look on Chris's face was priceless, and I swear if my body still could I would be blushing at the way Chris was staring at me.

Liam lifted the veil for a moment to kiss my cheek.

"Love you Fiona." He said,

"(And who gives this woman to this man?)" the priest asked in Irish, Liam took a deep breath and smiled at Chris

"Her mother and I," he replied, taking my hands and holding them out to Chris, who took hold of them gently, but nervously, he was practically shaking. Liam gave him a pat on the shoulder before heading to his seat next to Siobhan.

"bheatha! (Welcome!)We are here today to witness the joining of these two young people, Christian Cullen and Fiona Nickelson." The priest began, Chris and I had purposely met with a Celtic priest who was always pleased to incorporate the old ways into Christianity and he was very happy to oblige with our needs, it also helped that he was an old friend of Liam's and a vampire who had taken a leaf out of the Cullen family's book and survived on animal blood. "True love is a strange thing, Aine makes it so." I heard chuckles from some of our guests, and glanced behind me as most exchanged confused looks. "In Irish Celtic as with Scottish and Welsh, there are many gods and goddess that make up the religion. In Irish, Aine is the Goddess of Love, but very often she confuses her identity, choosing instead to be Aerten, the Welsh Goddess of Fate. Fate plays a large part in all our lives. We are fated from the beginning for certain events and tasks throughout our lives, we are never given more than we can handle because it was fated before our birth to be as such. Christian and Fiona were fated to be together as husband and wife, but Aerten would only allow the union when she had decided it was time, Christian I know you questioned for many years to yourself of course why fate had left you alone for so long. The answer to that question is simple Fiona had her own journey to follow as you did and it wasn't until your paths were fated to cross did all work the way it was supposed to."

He paused and gestured for Esme and Carlisle and Siobhan and Liam to step forward. Each couple joined hands and came to us at the alter.

"Christian and Fiona have come to this spot of their own free will, with the blessing of their parents. However they are not just the children of Carlisle and Esme nor Siobhan and Liam. Both Christian and Fiona were children of parents who are no longer on this earth, parents who would be proud of the moment their children are sharing and of the journey they will embark upon. With that said, in honor of these parents two candles will be lit, so that Christian's parents and Fiona's parents will be here with us for this day."

Carlisle stepped forward first with Esme's hand on his. He took a long match and struck it, before lighting one of the beautiful white candles.

"For Thomas and Rebecca Callaghan," Esme said for everyone to hear

I felt Chris tighten his grip on my hands as his mother said his birth parents' name aloud, I could see the look of sadness in his eyes and he smiled gently at me.

Liam and Siobhan stepped forward next, as Liam followed through with the same motions as Carlisle, lighting the other candle.

"For Andrew and Rosemary Nickelson." Siobhan added.

Both sets of parents returned to their seats, but not before giving both Chris and I quick shoulder squeezes. I hadn't heard my parent's names in so long, it felt grand hearing them again, a wee bit sad, but I could practically feel both of them with us today. I know Chris felt the same way, he stared at the candle as if he could see his parents standing there, before he looked back at me and mouthed

'Tha gaol agam ort'. To which I smiled back and mouthed the same to him.

"Now, I had the pleasure of sitting down and discussing with Christian and Fiona how they wanted this ceremony. They were very specific about traditions that were an absolute must. For those of you among their guests who are unaware, Christian is Scottish while Fiona is Irish, now you must be asking yourselves, 'why should that matter, a wedding is a wedding?' and I answer you, it has everything to do with it. Both Christian and Fiona while from two very different islands, two similar yet different cultures and backgrounds, and even different languages, find their cultures sharing one simply fact. They are both of Celtic decent and therefore asked that traditions of their Celtic ancestors be brought into the ceremony. One such tradition is very important to both cultures and that is the handfasting." The priest held up a blue, white, red, green, and orange cord, Chris and I had picked the colors out ourselves, it held our nations' colors all blended together and it also held our personal favorite colors, blue for me and green for Chris. "I will now say the blessing:

 _In times past it was believed that the human soul shared characteristics with all things divine. It is this belief which assigned virtues to the cardinal directions; East, South, West and North. It is in this tradition that a blessing is offered in support of this ceremony._

 _Blessed be this union with the gifts of the East.  
Communication of the heart, mind, and body  
Fresh beginnings with the rising of each Sun.  
The knowledge of the growth found in the sharing of silences._

 _Blessed be this union with the gifts of the South.  
Warmth of hearth and home  
The heat of the heart's passion  
The light created by both to illuminate the darkest of times._

 _Blessed be this union with the gifts of the West.  
The deep commitments of the lake The swift excitement of the river The refreshing cleansing of the rain  
The all encompassing passion of the sea. Blessed be this union with the gifts of the North  
Firm foundation on which to build  
A stable home to which you may always return._

 _Now you are bound one to the other  
With a tie not easy to break.  
Take the time of binding  
Before the final vows are made  
To learn what you need to know -  
To grow in wisdom and love.  
That your marriage will be strong  
That your love will last  
In this life and beyond._

Once he finished the blessing, the priest wrapped the cord around Chris and I's hands, he did not tie it, but let it sit binding us together both in the physical and mental sense.

There was some clapping among our guests who understood the blessing and this quickly caught on as the remainder of the guests joined in.

"Now, if you would say your vows please? Christian you first lad,"

Chris took a nervous, deep breath as he looked deep into my eyes, his voice started off soft, but grew louder as he felt more comfortable speaking.

"Fiona, I knew from the moment I saw you, that you were the one. I could feel it, it was all around me, and in that instant I saw no one but you, I felt for no one but you, you took hold of my soul and brought it back to me, if only for me to give it directly to you and I do, I gladly give my heart, my soul, my very being to you. For eternity and beyond, I have waited a lifetime for you and will spend many more with you. Tha gaol agam ort a gra, a anam cara, Tugaim mo chroí duit go deo. I love you, my love, my soul mate, I give my heart to you forever."

I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, before a nod from the priest encouraged me to recite my own vow, like Chris I was nervous about speaking in front of everyone like this, but when I glanced behind me slightly, I saw the encouraging smiles of my sisters and soon to be niece and knew I could do this.

"Christian, I never thought I would find the happiness I have with you, I never knew what was missing, my life while loving and happy, always felt incomplete somehow and it wasn't until you did I feel that completeness. You are my fairy tale, my happy ending and my happy beginning together. You are my best friend and my love, my soul mate, Tugaim mo chroí duit deo, I give my heart to you forever."

"Well said," the priest said softly to the both of us, He looked over to my bridesmaids and gestured for Nessie, Chris's niece to come to us, she was happily holding a duel role as flower girl and ring bearer. She skipped happily to us, Seth knelt down and gently untied the rings from her basket, he tapped her nose and she giggled.

The priest looked right at Chris and nodded at him

"Do you, Christian Aiden Cullen, take Fiona to be your wife, To be her constant friend,  
her partner in life, and her true love? To love her without reservation; honor and respect her, protect her from harm, comfort her in times of distress, and to grow with her in mind and spirit? Until Eternity's end?"

"Aye, I do." Chris said giving my hand a gently squeeze, Seth reached over and handed him the ring and the priest the other,

"Then repeat after me, I Christian, with this ring as a symbol of my love, do thee wed."

"I Christian, with this ring as a symbol of my love do thee wed." Chris repeated, slipping the ring on my finger with my engagement ring.

"Do you Fiona Larissa Nickelson take Christian to be your husband, To be his constant friend, his partner in life, and his true love? To love him without reservation, honor and respect him, protect him from harm, comfort him in times of distress, and to grow with him in mind and spirit? Until Eternity's end?"

"I do,"

"Please repeat after me, I Fiona with this ring as a symbol of my love do thee wed."

"I Fiona with this ring as a symbol of my love, do thee wed." I slipped his ring on and Chris gave me his half grin, which was so catchy I couldn't help but return it.

The Priest nodded, and looked at Chris's groomsmen, Jasper stepped forward, and handed something to Chris. He took a deep breath

"Fiona, please accept these colours as your own and this crest as your own, my clan becomes our clan, my crest becomes our crest."

"Ay, I do." I said smiling as Chris reached forward and with Maggie's help, carefully pinned a piece of tartan to my dress in a spot that wouldn't ruin the material, holding the tartan in place was a crest, the Cullen crest that I had seen the entire family wearing. I had expected the pin to be that of Chris's clan, but I was pleasantly surprised at what he had done. The tartan was the clan colours of the Callaghan Clan, Chris's family, but the pin holding it there was the crest of his other family.

"Now, Esme, Siobhan I believe you have something?"

Both mothers stood up, Emmett reached around the altar and lifted up a medium size candle about a foot in length and thick in circumference. He gently handed it to Esme who winked at both Chris and I. Together the two mothers placed the candle in a holder sitting in between the two candles for Chris's parents and my own. Two more candles were placed on either side of the larger candle. Chris looked at me slightly confused and I gave a little shrug, I had no idea what they were up to either.

Esme reached forward with a long match and lit the candle from the Callaghan parents and gently lit the one directly next to it, before blowing the flame out. Then Siobhan did the same with my parents' candle.

"As I said earlier in the ceremony, both these candles up here represent Chris and Fiona's birthparents. The two candles that have been added represent the Cullen family and the Irish Clan. From the original flame to the second candles, Christian, Fiona, if you both would take a match and please light it from your respective candles?"

Both Chris and I at the same time did as the priest asked, we stepped back once it was done so the guests could see as well.

"Now if you please, this larger candle is you both, it is you as husband and wife, it is you as one being. But it cannot be lit without help, and the candles you have taken the flame from is that help, it is your past and it is your future and though the physical flame may go out from time to time, the very being of that candle will never be extinguished. Please light your candle."

And with that order, Chris and I put the matches together against the candles wick and watched as the wick caught, creating one flame. Everyone clapped and cheered for a moment before quieting down so that the priest could continue.

"Without further ado, in front of your family and friends Christian and Fiona you have exchanged your vows and your rings. It is my great pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife, Christian if you'd like you may kiss your bride."

Chris seemed slightly nervous, we had kissed many times, but not in front of such a group, but he took a deep breath, mouthed I love you and kissed me gently, hugging me close as applause erupted around us. It felt like we were the only two people there, as he held me tight, never letting go.

When we finally broke apart we clasped hands instinctively, not even needing to look for the other's hand.

All the guests were on their feet clapping loudly, Emmett whistled and some of the wolf pack joined him. The bagpiper and band struck up in song, giving us the clue to move.

The photographer, who had been hovering the entire ceremony snapping pictures, did not disappoint capturing what I hoped was a beautiful picture of the two of us hand in hand looking out at our guests.

Chris held out his arm and I took it as we headed down the aisle, back towards the house, with our wedding party following.

I quickly glanced behind me at my sister and Seth, both seemed timid about the arrangements, but Seth bowed gentlemanly at Maggie and she giggled before taking his arm and following us.

When we reached the end of the aisle there was a broom laying across, I glanced over at Chris and he shrugged grinning.

"It's a Scottish tradition, my parents did it apparently, Esme and the girls found a picture of them jumping it."

"So we have to jump over it?"

"Unless you want me to carry you over it?"

I grinned at him and pecked his cheek with a kiss

"That's for the threshold silly."

"Together it is then, Aron?" He asked in Gaelic,

"Aron,"

"On three, one, two, three." On the three, still holding my hand tight we jumped in unison over the broom as the applause grew louder, "aron deo"

"Always A Gra."

Chris

Once the entire wedding party was back in the house, the outside was transformed into the wedding reception. I glanced outside to see that the rental company who had set most everything up was scurrying around to set up the dance floor, the tables, even the DJ's area. I was going to strangle Alice, so much for keeping things low key, the catering trucks had arrived and wait-staff were circulating among the guests offering appetizers and drinks.

I glanced over at Fi and nodded outside, she giggled and shrugged, Alice came skipping over to us and gave us both a hug and kiss before skipping off again, apparently avoiding my wrath. The photographer made sure to capture some shots of us in both the house and just outside of it before Alice ushered us back inside forcefully.

I took Fi's hand and kissed it as my brothers and friends hugged and patted my shoulders.

"How does it feel Chrissy?" Rosalie asked me hugging me tight

"I don't think its truly hit yet Rose," I replied "but what I do feel is amazing." She giggled and kissed me as Bella took her turn to hug me, while Rose hugged Fi.

"You two are so adorable." Bella added and I ducked my head.

Alice skipped back into the house and smiled wide

"They're ready!" she exclaimed "everyone line up with your partner, Fi Chris you guys are last, Renessme I want you to go out right before Uncle Chris and Auntie Fi ok?" Nessie nodded and hugged me around my waist, Fi looked at me quickly, hearing her new title in Nessie's eyes made her smile, a little embarrassed. Nessie turned to Fi and hugged her tight, standing on her tip toes to kiss Fi's cheek.

"Now if everyone would please stand as I introduce your wedding party for the evening." I could hear the sound of our guests standing as the DJ's voice echoed through our clearing. I rolled my eyes as I recognized the voice instantly, it was Quil Ateara, a member of the pack and one of Jacob's closest friends, he's a cool guy and we'd become pretty good friends since Jacob and Seth basically gave me tentative membership into the pack, but I was curious as to how they convinced him to DJ. When I looked at Alice for an explanation she smiled mischievously. Guess that answered that question, Alice was involved, 100%. "Parents of the bride, Siobhan and Liam," I could picture Siobhan and Liam making their way across the dance floor to the table for the parents right along side it, I could hear the applause and whistles. "Parents of the groom Carlisle and Esme Cullen!"

More applause as my parents joined Fi's at the table. Up in front I saw Tia squeeze Benjamin's arm before looking back at Fi and I to smile.

"Break a leg!" Emmett whispered to them causing all of us to laugh

"Now, may I introduce friends of the Bride and Groom Bridesmaid Tia escorted by Groomsman Benjamin." Giving us a final wave, Tia and Benjamin, arm in arm gave a small dance as they headed out of the house to the dance floor. "Next may we have the sister-in law, and brother to the groom Bridesmaid Bella Cullen escorted by Groomsman Edward Cullen." Like Tia and Benjamin, Bella and Edward gracefully danced their way out of the house. "Next we have sister and brother to the groom, Bridesmaid Rosalie Hale-Cullen escorted by Groomsman Emmett Cullen." Emmett gave me the goofiest grin he could muster as he and Rosalie danced out behind Edward and Bella, actually they literally tangoed out, Emmett leading and Rose just shaking her head at her husband. "Coming in next, sister and brother to the groom Bridesmaid Alice Cullen and Jasper Cullen." Alice reached over and tapped my nose before following the others out of the house with Jasper. "Now, sister of the bride Maid of honor Maggie escorted by best friend of the groom the Best Man, Seth Clearwater."

Seth held out his arm to Maggie and she smiled gently at him

"Ready partner?" he asked her and she nodded as they left the house as well. The applause hadn't stopped neither had the whistling as Fi squeezed my hand, Nessie looked up at us and grinned widely at us.

"Love you Uncle Chris," she said hugging me again

"Love you too Nessie girl."

"Love you Auntie Fi," she added hugging Fi tight

"Love you too Nessie."

"Now, official Ring bearer and flower girl, may I present niece of the groom Miss Nessie Cullen!"

Nessie skipped out of the house and towards her parents.

"I love you Mrs. Cullen." I said softly, kissing her gently

"I love you too Mr. Cullen."

"Now, it gives me great pleasure introduce to you all for the first time, the guests of honor for this evening, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen!" Quil exclaimed

The applause erupted in the clearing as Fi and I walked calmly out onto the dance floor. Tables lined the floor as our closest friends and family. I glanced up at the DJ table that had been set up and chuckled when I spotted Quil sporting headphones around his neck, a baseball cap on backwards, and clown like sunglasses, in addition to the suit he had been wearing at the ceremony. He grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up as the applause quieted down a bit.

"The wedding party is present and accounted for so let's get this pa-rt-y started!" Quil shouted into the microphone, enunciated each syllable "please join me in another round of applause as our newlyweds have their first dance as a married couple!"

The song Fi and I had decided on, _I knew I loved you_ , by Savage Garden began to play and we began to dance in our own way to the beat. Fi's a much better dancer than I am, but I think I did okay, I didn't step on her toes and we were easily in sync with one another. We also didn't dance as awkward as I feared we would, we had been practicing this long enough and were completely at ease. I held her close and we focused on the music and each other, there was no one watching us, at least we pretended that was the case and trust me it helped with our nerves.

When the song finally ended and everyone began to clap again, I took Fi's hand and gently kissed it as we faced our family and friends and gave them all a shy wave.

After our dance, Liam stepped onto the dance floor, he looked as uncomfortable as I felt as he held out his hand to Fi for the traditional father/daughter dance. I stepped back to my parents as they danced a song Fi had found. I didn't recognize it and I'm pretty sure Fi had mastered Google thanks to all this wedding prep. As Liam and Fi danced, I felt an arm around my shoulders and looked up at Esme's proud smile, she kissed the top of my head and held me tight.

When the song ended and they walked off the dance floor, I turned to Esme and held out my hand to her. She took it gently and I guided my mother out to the floor. I had talked to Rosalie about the dance mother/son dance. I wanted the song to be important and for it's lyrics to match everything that Esme has done for me and something that could be extended to Carlisle so he would know that the song wasn't just for Esme, it was for him as well. Instead of searching around and testing different songs that she thought I might approve of Rose simply walked over to the computer and played one song. Like with the Savage Garden song, the lyrics, the beat, everything about the song was perfect.

So as Celine Dion's _Because You Loved Me_ began playing, Esme's eyes filled with love, so much that I knew if our bodies were able to, she would be crying from happiness. The song while connecting to so much between my parents and I, has one line right in the chorus that stood out to me, that hit me hard and was easily my relationship with Carlisle and Esme, 'you gave me faith because you believed, I'm everything I am, because you loved me.' That line stood out, but it was a line that followed it that sealed it for me 'I lost my faith you gave it back to me'. When I heard that one line I was instantly brought back to my first Christmas with the Cullen family, when Esme and Carlisle took a huge risk to bring me out, while I was still a newborn and potentially dangerous, and brought me to Christmas Eve Mass.

After the Mass, I was extremely quiet as we drove home, mainly because of the guilt I felt. I had felt like I had abandoned my parents, left them to suffer through the war under the assumption that I was dead, I had broken a promise to my father and hadn't been there for my mother. I had been foolish to not make it to a shelter in time and had let myself be caught during the blitz and nearly crushed to death. I had accepted an immortal life without a second thought to my parents. Christmas Eve Mass should have brought content, calm, and a renewed sense of good in my new life, instead the songs, the familiarity of church and the mass had brought gut wrenching guilt that I couldn't shake.

It had been Esme and Carlisle's soothing words, reassurance, and love that lessened the pain I was feeling, it didn't completely erase it, I don't think anything could because the guilt still plays in the back of my mind. But they helped ease that pain and the song, especially that one line reminded me of that snowy Christmas Eve and all that my parents, both sets of parents truly meant to me.

As Esme and I danced and I glanced back at Carlisle, I think both of them understood why I had chosen the song and both were remembering the same thing I was, knowing how special and perfect the lyrics to the song truly were.

As our song faded into the end, I leaned up and kissed Esme on the cheek and she hugged me tight, I guided Esme back to Carlisle and without saying a word, hugged my father, he was stunned for a moment, but quickly hugged me back, Esme joining in, the three of us holding onto each other tight for just a quick moment.

"Love you guys," I whispered, before returning to Fi's side as Quil started up again,

"That was inspiring Chris, really it was," he called, pretended to dab at his sunglasses and I rolled my eyes. Jacob and Nessie seemed to be following in suit, because they both gave Quil a look, what made it more comical was Nessie was doing it from Jacob's arms and had her little arms crossed expectantly. "Yikes, got it, moving on. Now before we open the dance floor up to everyone, Chris and Fi have one more little surprise for everyone." Quil lifted his sunglasses and winked and on cue, Nessie scrambled down from Jacob's arms and bolted back into the house. The rest of the guests (including my family) all looked confused as I took Fi's hand and we walked out to the dance floor. We stood back to back and I felt her take a deep breath.

"Ready?" I asked softly

"Ready," she replied,

"Now, Chris explained to me this whole thing, it's called a Caili, and it's a tradition from both Scotland and Ireland."

From in the house a violin started to play, it grew louder as Nessie walked outside towards the DJ stage, Quil had set up a microphone stand right at Nessie's height so her music echoed through the clearing. Fi stepped away from me and began dancing a slow Irish step dance in tune to Nessie's violin. I could hear the murmurs and quiet claps as everyone realized part of our surprise. Nessie had been practicing this for weeks and had quickly mastered the notes. As Fi's dance slowed to a stop, another sound filled the area, it was Edward on his electric keyboard, with a beat similar to Nessie's but slightly different he had chosen a key sound that matched the violin almost perfectly. My brother is not fond of the electric keyboard that Emmett got him a few years back, but he was willing to use it when Fi and I explained to him what we needed. It needed to be a dueling violin scenario and since Fi would be dancing and was the only one besides Nessie who could play that particular instrument, we had to improvise, which ended up being perfect because we needed the two sounds to be similar, but very different and they were. As Edward's turn got going I began my own Scottish style dance, I was never good at them, but had been practicing so I felt I could handle it.

The two tunes began to go faster and faster and began to blend together perfectly as Fi and I danced separate at first, before finally coming together and dancing the same dance as one couple. The dueling violins…dueling fiddles faded out as we held each other tight…together at last.

x-x-x-x

Hi me again, one last thing, I did name the two songs that make an appearance in this chapter, Savage Garden's I knew I loved you and Celine Dion's Because you Loved me, however the song for Chris and Fi's Caili dance is a little tricky to find, if you go on YouTube and type in Dueling Fiddles by Celtic Women the live performance from Hyde Park is the exact song I always hear in my mind when I reread this scene. I first heard the song when my family went and saw Celtic Women years ago and I could picture the dance I described and that quickly became Chris and Fi's Caili Dance. Check it out if you have a chance it's worth it because the song is great and has an amazing beat. I will try to have another chapter posted soon, but it may be a little bit because this is the last chapter I had prewritten for this particular part of the post-Twilight Series, so bear with me everyone! Take care and thanks as always for being such great readers and friends!


End file.
